Source: Radio New Zealand
Finley Melville Ives FIS
Just two weeks out from the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, New Zealand has had its best Winter X Games ever, with Finley Melville Ives bagging another gold for the team.
Melville Ives delivered across three jaw-dropping runs to dominate the competition in the men’s ski superpipe at the X Games in Aspen on Monday (NZ time).
His performance brought the total haul by the New Zealand athletes to two gold and four silver.
Melville Ives led from the start scoring 89.33, then improving in his second run to score 93.33, then laying down a fearless run to score a 95.00.
No-one could touch the Wānaka-based athlete who impressed the judges in showcasing both amplitude and difficulty, his last run giving 6m of air in his first trick, a switch right 9. As a rookie last year, he narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place finish.
Melville Ives won silver at the 2024 Youth Winter Olympics and in March last year was crowned the 2025 FIS Freeski Halfpipe world champion at his debut World Champs. This year he has scored two World Cup podiums, coming first in freeski halfpipe at Buttermilk and second in Calgary.
Melville Ives said conditions were tricky, but the crowd vibe was electric – “It’s been super surreal. I’m just so grateful to have put down these runs in front of all the fans,” Melville Ives said.
The 19-year-old ski star said landing the switch 14, which he’d never done before in competition, was a highlight.
Snow Sports NZ head coach high performance park and pipe Tom Willmott said it was an epic night to wrap up New Zealand’s most successful X Games.
“Fin placed fourth at last year’s X Games and was keen to get on the box this time around. Fin did not have the luxury of a victory lap with the new format, which moves the current leader to second to last in the final run.
“Fin dropped in super-fast and executed a massive switch right 9 landing at the top of the wall into a switch left double 14 into back-to-back 16s and finishing with an allyoop double 9. It was the first time he had landed this combination, and the judges rewarded him with a score of 95.00 and X Games gold.”
Luke Harrold came sixth in the men’s freeski halfpipe.
Also competing today were yesterday’s silver medallist Rocco Jamieson, who narrowly missed the podium in the Men’s Knuckle Huck, finishing in fourth.
Dane Menzies, an X Games rookie, came 11th in snowboard slopestyle.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games will take place from 6-22 February 2026 across iconic Italian alpine venues.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
