Snowboarding: Five boarders lined up for Winter Games

New Zealand got their cherished extra women's place for the Winter Olympics and will send the country's largest snowboarding contingent to a Games in Vancouver next month.

The quintet of half pipe boarders was named yesterday, and while a split of two men and two women was guaranteed, securing an additional women's place was terrific news for both Kendall Brown and Rebecca Sinclair.

They were split by a hair's breadth and had the New Zealand Olympic Committee not received a quota spot in the field, one of them would have missed out. Making that decision would not have been easy, given their rankings and ability.

Kendall Brown is one of three among the five to attend a second Winter Olympics. She was 24th in the halfpipe at Turin four years ago.

Her brother Mitchell Brown was 25th in the men's half pipe at the same Games, while Juliane Bray was 16th, also at Turin.

Mitchell Brown had a tight squeeze to get the second men's spot ahead of Ben Stewart of Whangamata.

Brown finished eighth in a World Cup event in Quebec over the weekend, bagging 38 points out of a possible 50, but it was a trial event for the Canadian Games team and as such the quality of the field was solid.

For Bray, at 34, the senior member of the squad, it's a thrill returning to a Games.

"Being selected is just awesome," she said.

"I have been reaching for this dream for four years and compared to Torino it has been much more difficult to qualify because there are so many women snowboarding these days."

Sinclair, originally from Taupo, is at 18, the youngest in the squad.

Ten other athletes were named for Vancouver last week in alpine skiing (two), skeleton (three), skating (two), cross-country (two) and free skiing (one).

One more athlete could join them. Biathlete Sarah Murphy is dependent on the NZOC receiving a quota spot in the final allocation.

The NZOC have confirmed they will support the 21-year-old provided a spot is available. That news is due tomorrow.

OLYMPIC SQUAD

New Zealand Snowboarding team for Vancouver Olympics: James Hamilton (20, Albany), Mitch Brown (22, Wanaka), Juliane Bray (34, Wanaka), Kendall Brown (20, Wanaka), Rebecca Sinclair (18, Wanaka).