Winter sports wrap

With just days left until the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, several NSWIS athletes have finetuned their preparations ahead of the opening ceremony in Sochi.

At the X-Games in Aspen, Colorado, snowboarder Cam Bolton was the highlight of the NSWIS athletes as he finished fifth in the men’s snowboard cross, with fellow NSWIS athlete Russ Henshaw finishing eighth in the men’s ski slopestyle despite suffering a bad fall during training.

In Taipei, ice dancers Greg Merriman and Danielle O’Brien continued their preparation for their debut Olympics with a seventh place finish at the Four Continents Championships. After a shaky performance in the short dance the pair regrouped in the free dance to post a solid 121.44 points overall.

The ski cross world cup wrapped up in Austria with four NSWIS athletes competing, with Jenny Owens posting a 15th place finish. The result was Owens’ best in just over 12 months and brings to a close her fantastic world cup skiing career. Fellow NSWIS athletes Katya Crema and Sami Kennedy-Sim finished 16th and 24th respectively, while Anton Grimus finished 14th in the men’s event.

Sliders John Farrow and Jana Pittman also continued their march towards Russia with strong performances at a world cup event in Germany; Farrow finishing 17th in the men’s skeleton, and Pittman taking 14th in the women’s bobsleigh.