NZ freeskier collects first World Cup podium

New Zealand freeskier Ruby Andrews has claimed the first World Cup podium of her career at the Slopestyle World Cup in California.

Ruby Andrews celebrates with her coach Hamish McDougall and teammates Ben Barclay and Luca Harrington.
Photo: Supplied

A junior world champion last year, the 18-year-old from Queenstown laid down two strong runs in windy conditions at Mammoth Mountain.

Norway’s Johanne Killi collected her sixth World Cup win, with Kirsty Muir of Great Britain second and Andrews in third.

“It’s pretty unbelievable. I wasn’t even expecting to make it into the finals here at Mammoth, so to make the podium is just incredible,’ Andrews said.

The young New Zealander laced together a technical rail section to start her opening run, with both direction 270’s and a back swap on the huge rainbow rail.

She showed the judges plenty of variety on the four jumps, spinning in all four directions to earn a score of 70.80 and sit in third place.

That score held up throughout run two and Andrew’s landed herself on her first World Cup podium at just the second World Cup event of her career.

“I was super stoked with my rails. Rails are just as important as jumps. Rails have been a focus of my training and it’s awesome to see my training pay off.”

Andrews’ team-mates Ben Barclay and Luca Harrington finished 12th and 14th, respectively, in the finals of a heavily stacked men’s field.