This week we caught up with Sam Hadley, one of New Zealand's top up and coming Slalom Skiers. Sam has recently competed at the New Zealand winter games and is in the hunt to represent New Zealand at the Junior Winter Championships next year!
Tell us a bit about what you do?
I'm an Alpine Ski Racer based down south in Queenstown, but travel backwards and forwards between home and uni in CHCH where I'm second year at UC. I grew up in Queenstown and have been skiing ever since I was a wee fella. I still remember when I went skiing for the first time when I was about two, got to the top of the magic carpet and straight-lined down the hill to get away from dad straight into a fence! I now spend my NZ winters back home in Queenstown while studying (or at least attempting to) online as well. In summer I hope to head back to Europe again to keep training and racing to improve my world ranking. Currently after some good races here in the homeland I am ranked roughly in the top 700 in the world for both Slalom and Giant Slalom.
You recently competed at the new zealand winter games, how did that go?
Overall it was a sick experience. A lot of the bigger nations/teams from central Europe like Switzerland and Austria bring some of their top athletes to NZ for the winter to chase the snow and train and race here. These guys are top notch skiers who do it professionally and on the world stage, most of them ranked in the top 100 in the world. So it's awesome to be racing in the same field as them. My best result was in the Giant Slalom event where I entered the race with the 53rd best ranking and finished in 24th which was a big confidence boost proving I can ski to a similar level as some of the top lads.
It's comp day, do you have a breakfast of champions?
Probably pretty controversial but I always run the trusty overnight oats, a big time saver for me as I can wake up later and eat it on the hill before I start skiing. Consists of 1 cup oats (always bulking season), milk, grated green apple, greek yogurt, and a very healthy serving of golden syrup.
What does a typical day up the mountain look like for you?
Normally I start skiing at 7:30am since Coronet is good enough to open the lifts up early for racers, so I normally wake up just before 6. We don't train for the whole day, just for a couple of hours which is good for me because I have the chance to watch a few lectures in the arvo. I still have to do some form of recovery which is normally walking the dog or heading to the gym, then prep my skis for the next day and wake up and do it all again. It's definitely busy, but a pretty sweet gig of you ask me.
You've Skiied around a fair bit, are there any mountains that stand out?
Huge fan of the Dolomites in Italy, the mountains there are higher in altitude, heaps more snow and much bigger ski fields. Not to mention the food! I'm pretty lucky to have been able to go to so many different places around the globe to train and compete. With all that said, you can never look past Coronet Peak here at home when there is enough snow. This year will be my 17th season in a row skiing there.
I have to ask, what's your favourite Shaggy piece?
I discovered shaggy last year when me and a few of the boys in my hall saw the winter collection of hoodies and crews getting dropped. Since then I pretty much either wear a hat or a hoodie (or both) every day! Favourite piece has to be the Nico 5 Panel without a doubt.
What advice would you give anyone looking to get into high performance snow sports?
Same as anything worthwhile, put in the time and effort it deserves and in the end it will pay off in one way or another. You always have to enjoy the process and take the small wins when you get 'em. Gotta have some fun with it too!
What does Local mean to you?
Even though I've spent a fair chunk of my time in CHCH over the last few years since I went to boarding school there too, my home in Queenstown is super special to me and I'm lucky to call myself a true Queenstowner who has lived there their whole life, pretty rare these days. I always enjoy being home and getting out in the hills chasing after the dog and catching up with old friends no matter the time of year.
Finally, what's next? What's the dream?
I am really looking forward to the coming northern hemisphere season where I will be heading back to Central Europe to continue training and competing. Looking ahead in the short term all going well and staying away from injuries I am hoping for selection to compete at the World Junior Championships at the end of January 24. The ultimate dream has to be getting to a point where I can support myself in skiing and would be awesome to represent NZ at some more high level events like the World Cup circuit and Olympics! Still a long way to go though and very challenging to do it based out of a tiny skiing nation where funding is small and training opportunities are hard to come by with such a short season.
If you want to keep up with what's next for Sam the best way is to jump on his Insta @samhadl3y