Skiing: Kiwi teen Ruby Star Andrews claims first-ever World Cup podium finish at California

  • 05/02/2023

Kiwi teen Ruby Star Andrews has clinched her first-ever career podium finish at the Freeski Slopestyle World Cup at California.

Andrews, 18, battled through windy conditions to score 70.80 in her first run, which was enough to earn third place at just her second World Cup event.

Norway's Johanne Killi claimed the top spot for her sixth World Cup win, while Great Britain's Kirsty Muir finished in second place.

Andews' placing caps off an impressive showing for the Kiwis, with Ben Barclay and Luca Harrington also qualifying for the finals.

She was delighted with her performances on the rainbow rail with swirling wind making the speed for jumps challenging.

"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.

"Today was really hard with the weather. The wind was really affecting us, but we made it happen so that was awesome.

 "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."