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Piera Hudson was selected into New Zealands 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Team to be held in Innsbruck. This is an exciting new event which will see over 1,000 of the world's best 14-18 year olds contest all winter Olympic sports. Piera Hudson is not the typical teenager. Piera is a 15-year-old Tikokino farm girl who has dedicated her life to ski racing since she was nine on a relentless year-round training and competition circuit between New Zealand, North America and Europe. After fourteen consecutive winters she is now the New Zealand Overall National Champion in Giant Slalom and a rising star in international alpine ski racing with a world top-15 ranking for her age group. Compared to other snow sports, alpine ski racing is a fiercely competitive code, dominated by European nations, with some 6,000 FIS (Federation of International Ski Racing) women alpine ski racers alone. It is extremely difficult for a Kiwi to make an impression, but Piera is doing just that. Piera debuted her first FIS event this season in NZ with a penalty of 990 FIS points and reduced this to a 50-point race result in just two Giant Slalom races finishing the fastest New Zealand women in an international field and becoming the National Champion at Coronet Peak. "There have been only a handful of elite junior ski athletes to come out of NZ in the last 20 years and Piera is in this group, says Nils Coberger, New Zealand Ski Team, Head Coach. She has the potential to become one of New Zealands very best ski racers. With Annelise Coberger and Claudia Riegler NZ, has a rich history of female ski racers and I feel Piera will add to this history in the next few years. Winning the National Giant Slalom title at 15 is only the start of her career." For a 15-year-old to win the National Championships is unheard of in New Zealand ski racing, but it becomes more understandable when you witness Piera's exceptional natural ability and dedication, says Jonny Rice, Elite Womens Coach at the Cardrona High Performance Centre. If you were to compare ski racing to rugby, Piera is competing to such a high standard that she would be in the World 15 team for her age. Racers like Piera don't come along very often and it makes it an exciting time to be involved with New Zealand ski racing.
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