Buchholz / FIS Freestyle
Ruby Star Andrews on her way to third place at the Stubai FIS Freeski Slopestyle World Cup in Austria.
Queenstown 18-year-old Ruby Star Andrews has claimed a third-place finish at the FIS Freeski Slopestyle World Cup season-opener in Austria.
It’s the second slopestyle World Cup podium of her promising career.
“This one feels pretty crazy, it all came around so fast,” Andrews said.
“We only had one training day in tough conditions and then we were straight into competition. I really liked the course here in Stubai. The rails were tough but had options for creativity, which was really cool.
“I did a big back 450 gap on the first rail and I was happy with my jumps too, they felt really smooth.”
Organisers attempted to run the finals on Friday morning, but with strong winds present and a deteriorating forecast on the cards for the next 48 hours, the decision was made to cancel the finals and take a result from qualification.
Buchholz / FIS Freestyle/Stuff
Ruby Star Andrews made the podium alongside two world champions in Austria.
Reigning Freeski Slopestyle world champion Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland won the event, with Tess Ledeux (France) – the current Freeski Big Air World Champion – second ahead of Andrews.
“This result sets me up really well from a FIS points perspective, but also from a confidence perspective too,” Andrews said.
“It’s just amazing to start the season off with a podium and I hope to keep the ball rolling and get a few more.”
Auckland’s Ben Barclay (21) and Wānaka’s Luca Harrington (19) finished in 10th and 11th place respectively in the men’s field, while 15-year-old Madeleine Disbrowe from Queenstown was 15th in the women’s field at her debut World Cup competition.
