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The New Zealand Team have got their Milano Cortina 2026 campaign off to a perfect start with Lyon Farrell, Rocco Jamieson and Dane Menzies all qualifying through to finals in the Snowboard Big Air.
Fittingly, competition got underway on Waitangi Day morning NZ time, with all three Kiwis making their Olympic debut under the lights at Livigno Snow Park.
To progress to the final, athletes would need to place inside the top 12. Big Air follows a three-run format, with a rider’s best two runs counting toward the final score. To qualify, athletes must perform two different tricks across their two scoring runs. Scoring is assessed on the technical difficulty of the trick, how well it is executed, how much amplitude the athlete gains in the air, and how well controlled they are on landing.
Lyon Farrell would come away as the top-placed New Zealander, finishing the qualifying competition in seventh place. Last man to drop into the jump, Farrell went for the backside 1800 on his first run but was unable to make a clean landing. Sitting in 23rd place after the first run, the pressure would be full on for the next two runs.
Farrell stepped up on his second run, coming back for the backside 18 with a double nose grab and landing it clean for a very solid score of 88.50 and setting himself up for run 3. On his last run, he opted for a frontside 1800 with a tail grab, once again showing good execution and earning a score of 81.50 and clearing the path to the finals.
“Lucky last, I can’t believe it, that was insane,” said Farrell after the competition. “I felt calm at the top of the last run knowing that might be my last experience on Big Air, and just putting it down when it counted felt incredible.
“I’ve had a career of ‘so-closes’ and I was able to make it happen tonight and make the finals. I think just the weight of the Olympics is bigger than I realised. I didn’t know the level would be that psycho. It was mind-blowing, the riding was so crazy, the level was insane. Just to make finals in an accomplishment in itself.”
Teammate Rocco Jamieson was feeling “grateful and stoked” to earn his place in the final after qualifying in eighth place. Able to put down three clean runs, Jamieson upped the ante on each attempt, improving his score and pushing his trick execution.
Jamieson opted for a backside 18 for his first jump, spinning five full rotations with the nose grab on lock and landing with seemingly effortless style for a score of 82. He went on to put down an impressive second run, adding a unique bloody Dracula grab to his frontside 1800 for a trick score of 83.5. Making it count on run three, he added an extra 180 degrees to his rotation and executed a clean 1980 with a nose grab for a score of 84.75.
“I was lucky enough to land the two 18s on the first two jumps and step it up to the 19 at the end,” he explained. “Now I’m looking to fully reset ahead of finals and I know I’ll need to put my best foot forward.”
Menzies got his night off to a good start, landing a frontside 1800 for a score of 77.75 on run one. He came out firing on run two, upping his score to 86.25 with a backside 1800 with melon grab, but there wouldn’t be time to relax just yet.
Looking to tidy up his frontside 18, Menzies dropped in for his third jump, looking solid in the air but getting bounced out of the landing. Unable to up his score, Menzies said it was “a stressful wait” to see if his first two run scores would be enough to keep him in the top 12.
The third man of 30 in the start order, Menzies had to wait for most of the rest of the field to take their turn, and the pressure was on as each rider came out of the gates fired up for their last chance to improve their score and progress to the finals.
By the end of competition, he would be sitting in 11th place, and ready to start an Olympic final.
“I was happyish with my riding, I could have done better,” said Menzies. “I could have kept it cleaner on the first run and landed the last one a bit better. I didn’t land a backside 1800 in practice, so it felt good to land one in the contest.”
The men’s Snowboard Big Air finals will be held on Saturday evening local time (Sunday 7.30am NZT).
Next to compete are the Freeski Slopestyle athletes on Saturday morning local time (10.30pm Saturday NZT)