New Zealand 2010 Winter Olympic Hopefuls

Posted on 20 January 2010 at 11:24 AM

New Zealand is heading to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.  Selection for the team is coming up and who is going to qualify?

Some of the Olympic hopefuls for skiing include:

• Mitchey Greig, freestyle skiing: from Queenstown with her home mountain at Coronet Peak
  
  
• Nat Anglem, cross country skiing: a sports physician who loves Hananui on Stewart Island and Takitimu in the Bay of Plenty
   
• Tim Cafe, alpine skiing: ranked as the overall winner in the NZ/Australian Cup in 2008, this Queenstown local is ready for the games
   
• Kate Calder, cross country skiing: came second in the Swiss Championships in 2009, this Australian Kiwi is ready to win
  
  
• Ben Griffin, alpine skiing: the current NZ Super-G and GS Champion considers competing at the Olympics the highest honour
   
• Ben Koons, cross country skiing: this Dunedin born skier credits Sir Edmund Hillary for inspiration
   
• Sarah Murphy, biathlon: based in Wanaka, she has been training hard for a sport combining shooting and cross country skiing
   
• Andrew Pohl, cross country skiing: competing in one of the most aerobic sports, Andrew’s goal is to compete at the games in Vancouver

Some of the Olympic hopefuls for snowboarding include:

• Paula Mitchell, snowboarder: first competed for New Zealand in 2007 and is now a full time snowboard instructor in the US
  
  
• Rebecca Sinclair, snowboarder: came in first in the U15 half pipe at the Youth Worlds in Italy
   
• Juliane Bray, snowboard: competed at the Torino Winter Olympics in 2006 and is looking to finish strong in the half-pipe finals
   
• Kendall Brown, snowboard: at age 16, this Wanaka snowboarder competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino
   
• James Hamilton, snowboard: New Zealand’s top ranked snowboarder will push to become one of the best half-pipe riders
   
• Ben Stewart, snowboard: at 17 years old, he placed 11^th in half pipe at 6 Star TTR World Tour Burton European Open

Good luck to all New Zealand hopefuls as selection for the team is shortly coming up.  For a full list of all 2010 Winter Olympic hopefuls check out the official New Zealand Winter Olympics website.