New Zealand Government investment secures future of Winter Games

Winter Games NZ has secured a five-year funding commitment from New Zealand Major Events (MBIE) to support the event annually through to 2027.

Welcoming the support, Winter Games NZ Chief Executive, Marty Toomey advised “securing a five-year funding commitment from central government allows us to plan our future with certainty. This funding support will allow us to showcase Aotearoa New Zealand to the world through epic content captured during the biggest snow sports programme we have ever delivered.”

New Zealand Economic Development Minister, Barbara Edmonds added “a homegrown event (Winter Games NZ) offers elite international sports competition across New Zealand’s Southern Lakes District in the northern hemisphere’s summer.

“(It) is the largest annual snow sports event in the Southern Hemisphere (and) attracts 500-600 athletes and generates strong international broadcast and media coverage.”

Winter Games NZ 2023 will host 14 traditional events across alpine, freeride and freestyle (park and pipe) disciplines between the 25th August and 8th September.

Spread across Queenstown’s ski areas, the Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) alpine skiing Giant Slalom, Slalom and Super G races will take place at Coronet Peak while the North Face Frontier Freeride World Tour qualifying 2-star and 4-star events will be held across the Wakatipu Basin at The Remarkables ski area.

The world’s best freeski and snowboard athletes aged 14-18 years will battle it out at Cardrona Alpine Resort for the prestigious FIS Junior World Champion titles in big air, halfpipe and slopestyle and the chance to secure a nation spot for the 2024 Youth Olympic Winter Games being held in Korea in January 2024. Despite being juniors, the eligible athletes will include reigning junior and senior World Champions and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympians.

In addition to a stacked traditional schedule, Winter Games NZ will also hold the inaugural International Obsidian Challenge from 9th to 16th September at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

The athlete focused team event will see teams made up of the best freeski and snowboard athletes representing Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America, battle it out for bragging rights across custom built terrain park venues and extraordinary freeride terrain.

Toomey concluded “we love showcasing Aotearoa New Zealand to the world and encourage as many people as possible to watch our events unfold on mountain. For those who can’t be there in person we will be producing amazing content for our digital and television audiences.

“With so many events to choose from across the Southern Lakes world class ski areas, the 2023 Winter Games NZ will be quite the celebration.”

The 2023 event will run from 25th August to 16th September and includes Freeski, Snowboard, Alpine Ski racing and Freeride events. Further events and a full schedule are expected to be confirmed soon.

Separate to the Winter Games investment, Sport NZ and High-Performance Sport NZ currently invest approximately $5 million in Snow Sports New Zealand for both domestic and high-performance sports.

For more information on the Winter Games NZ go to www.wintergamesnz.kiwi/

For more information on the Major Events Fund go to www.majorevents.govt.nz/major-events-fund/

Image. Credit: Winter Games NZ