He said he hadn’t trained well before the event.
“I had to swap my run with about 10 minutes left of training and ended up taping my pants to try and get more speed and skiing in a T-shirt, even though it’s freezing.”
Fourteen freeskiers qualified for the two-run final, with Melville Ives putting down a huge first run, registering a 90.00 score, which stood as the day’s highest. He matched it with his second run.
Harrold, a 17-year-old from Lake Hāwea, near Wānaka, was the last athlete to drop into each run, as the top qualifier. He was second after the first run, with 88.00 points. He amped that up to 89.00, but couldn’t eclipse Melville Ives.
The win was Melville Ives’ second at a World Cup, after victory in Canada in February, while it was Harrold’s second podium, after finishing second at Secret Garden in 2023, aged just 15.
Hunter Hess of the USA finished third.
In the women’s event, Mischa Thomas, 17, from Auckland, was seventh in her debut World Cup event.
China’s Eileen Gu, the reigning Olympic champion, took out the women’s event for her 19th World Cup win with a score of 91.75.
The event came down to Gu’s final run as Great Britain’s Zoe Atkin sat in the lead with a best score of 90.25 from her two runs.
Gu, who posted an 85.25 in her first attempt, wasn’t to be denied, however, with an impressive second run seeing her top the podium.