Snow sports: Brother and sister to kick off Winter Games with halfpipe

Kendall and Mitchell Brown. Picture / Bay Of Plenty Times

A teenage brother and sister will be two of the first New Zealanders in competition at the Winter Olympics next week when they take their snowboards down the halfpipe in Bardonecchia, Italy.

Mitchell Brown, 18, will be first in competition on Monday and on Tuesday his sister Kendall, 16, will take her turn down the halfpipe.

Wanaka-based snowboarder Juliane Bray will also contest the halfpipe and will turn out in the snowboarder cross-event a few days later.

Kendall Brown is New Zealand's youngest winter Olympian since alpine skier Cecilia Womersley took part in 1960 at Squaw Valley, in the United States, aged 16 years and six months.

Kendall Brown said she wasn't feeling any extra pressure from being the youngest New Zealand competitor in 46 years.

"It's just cool being the youngest one on the team. It's more of an experience thing for me so it's good."

She was also glad to have her brother on the team.

"I'm so stoked that we both made it and have both been selected on the team. It's good to have each other and to support each other."

She said she was not setting goals for a particular placing. It was a help having Bray in the same event, as they could support each other and train together.

She didn't believe the halfpipe was especially dangerous.

"I guess it is if you think of it like that but we really try not to think of it as 'you can hurt yourself' but just have fun," she said.

"It's basically just about trying to get the amplitude as high as you can and landing all the tricks and executing them well."

In qualifying, the halfpipe riders get two runs, with the best one counting.

The top five riders go through to the final.

Mitchell Brown will have the distinction of being the first New Zealander in competition at this Winter Olympics, and also the first male snowboarder from New Zealand to compete at a winter games.

"I can't wait. It's going to be awesome to be up there with all the other best riders in the world, and I'm just going to go and do my best, have heaps of fun and see how I go," he said.

His aim was to get a personal best and he had been training hard.

"I'm trying to work on everything. Some spins, or some flips, some inverts, and try and get big amplitude out of the halfpipe."

Mitchell Brown has been snowboarding for eight years. When he's in New Zealand he spends the winter in Wanaka and the summers at Mt Maunganui.

"It's pretty good."

He said his build-up had been good after a month training in California, a competition in Canada and then home for "a couple of days" for Christmas.

Since then, he and the rest of the snowboarding team had been training and competing in Switzerland.

"It's awesome having my little sister here," he said.

"We're really supportive of each other. We have a good time together and we're great travel buddies and best friends."

Mitchell Brown said most of the best snowboarders came from the United States or the Scandinavian countries and he was looking forward to watching the competition after his own involvement finished.

"I want to go and see some of my team-mates in the alpine skiing and the skeleton. Everything here's just going to be so awesome."

Mitchell Brown's halfpipe qualifying is on Monday morning, followed by the final the same day.

Kendall Brown and Bray have their qualifying on Tuesday morning, with the final also the same day.

- NZPA