View from Coronet Peak, NZ
Four nations produced five race winners during a weather-shortened Coronet Peak finale that decided the 2026 Australia New Zealand Cup titles.
Coronet Peak, New Zealand, brought the 2026 Australia New Zealand Cup alpine season to a dramatic close Sept. 6-8. The abbreviated finale featured a deep international field and five races.
Britain’s Molly Butler and Austria’s Christoph Meissl emerged as the women’s and men’s overall champions. Amelia Smart, Freddy Carrick-Smith, Arianne Forget, Andrej Drukarov and Storm Andre Hagen earned victories during the three-day finale.
However, weather shaped the series from beginning to end. Organizers canceled the entire ANC program scheduled for Thredbo, Australia. Mount Hutt also lost one men’s and one women’s giant slalom.
At Coronet Peak, two additional slaloms and a women’s giant slalom were canceled. Organizers also called off the Sept. 7 men’s giant slalom before completing two men’s giant slaloms Sept. 8.
Despite those challenges, the races that survived delivered compelling competition ahead of the 2026-27 Northern Hemisphere season.
Smart opens Coronet Peak finale with slalom victory
Experienced Canadian World Cup racer Amelia Smart won the opening women’s slalom Sept. 6.
Smart, who now trains outside the Alpine Canada Alpin program, completed the two runs in 1 minute, 33.78 seconds. She finished 0.31 seconds ahead of Australia’s Madison Hoffman.
Both athletes brought distinguished NCAA backgrounds to the podium. Smart earned five All-America honors and three NCAA individual titles while skiing for the University of Denver. Hoffman became a four-time First-Team All-American and two-time NCAA champion at the University of Utah.
Butler finished third, 0.74 seconds behind Smart. The result continued an impressive New Zealand campaign for the young British racer.
Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete Elisabeth Bocock led the Americans in fourth. Britain’s Victoria Palla placed fifth, while Smart’s younger sister, Eleri, completed the top six.
The strong American field also included Katie Hensien and Nina O’Brien, who did not finish. Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete and Denver First-Team All-American Liv Moritz did not start.
Race penalty: 17.62 FIS points
- 🇨🇦 1st: Amelia Smart — 1:33.78 — 17.62 FIS point result
- 🇦🇺 2nd: Madison Hoffman — 1:34.09 (+0.31) — 20.03 FIS point result
- 🇬🇧 3rd: Molly Butler — 1:34.52 (+0.74) — 23.38 FIS point result
- 🇺🇸 4th: Elisabeth Bocock, Stifel U.S. Ski Team — 1:34.97 (+1.19) — 26.88 FIS point result
- 🇬🇧 5th: Victoria Palla — 1:34.99 (+1.21) — 27.04 FIS point result
- 🇨🇦 6th: Eleri Smart — 1:35.42 (+1.64) — 30.39 FIS point result
Complete Sept. 6 women’s slalom results
Butler secures women’s slalom title
Butler’s third-place finish gave her 220 points and the first Continental Cup discipline title of her career. Smart finished second with 195, only 25 points behind the British champion.
Switzerland’s Aline Danioth placed third in the standings, while Amelie Klopfenstein finished fourth. Hoffman ranked fifth, and Moritz completed the top six.
- 🇬🇧 1st: Molly Butler — 220 points
- 🇨🇦 2nd: Amelia Smart — 195
- 🇨🇭 3rd: Aline Danioth — 160
- 🇨🇭 4th: Amelie Klopfenstein — 142
- 🇦🇺 5th: Madison Hoffman — 116
- 🇺🇸 6th: Liv Moritz, Stifel U.S. Ski Team — 100
As the highest-ranked eligible Australian or New Zealand athlete in the season’s women’s slalom standings, Hoffman earned the ANC World Cup start position.
Freddy Carrick-Smith converts first-run strength into victory
Britain’s Carrick-Smith brothers controlled the first run of the Sept. 6 men’s slalom. Luca led younger brother Freddy heading into the final run.
Norway’s Hagen then produced the fastest second run and moved into the lead. Meissl followed and moved into second, a result that secured the 2026 New Zealand Cup slalom title.
Freddy Carrick-Smith responded by taking the lead with only Luca remaining. However, the first-run leader skied out, handing the victory to his younger brother.
The win added another Continental Cup success for Freddy, who won a Europa Cup giant slalom in December 2025.
American Jack Bowers finished sixth, 2.01 seconds behind Carrick-Smith and 0.66 seconds away from the podium.
Race penalty: 16.61 FIS points
- 🇬🇧 1st: Freddy Carrick-Smith — 1:31.46 — 16.61 FIS point result
- 🇦🇹 2nd: Christoph Meissl — 1:31.94 (+0.48) — 20.44 FIS point result
- 🇳🇴 3rd: Storm Andre Hagen — 1:32.81 (+1.35) — 27.39 FIS point result
- 🇪🇪 4th: Tormis Laine — 1:33.13 (+1.67) — 29.94 FIS point result
- 🇳🇴 5th: Andreas Soensterud Amdahl — 1:33.36 (+1.90) — 31.78 FIS point result
- 🇺🇸 6th: Jack Bowers — 1:33.47 (+2.01) — 32.65 FIS point result
Complete Sept. 6 men’s slalom results
Meissl completes title-winning slalom campaign
Meissl completed the shortened series with three top-two slalom finishes, including a victory at Mount Hutt. His 260 points gave him the discipline title by 83 points over Carrick-Smith.
France’s Jonas Skabar finished third, followed by Estonia’s Laine. Former Montana State skier Henry Heaydon placed fifth.
- 🇦🇹 1st: Christoph Meissl — 260 points
- 🇬🇧 2nd: Freddy Carrick-Smith — 177
- 🇫🇷 3rd: Jonas Skabar — 160
- 🇪🇪 4th: Tormis Laine — 126
- 🇦🇺 5th: Henry Heaydon — 119
As the highest-ranked eligible Australian or New Zealand athlete in the season’s men’s slalom standings, Heaydon earned the ANC World Cup start position.
Forget dominates women’s giant slalom
Canada collected its second women’s victory of the Coronet Peak finale when Arianne Forget dominated the Sept. 7 giant slalom.
Forget won in 2:01.51 and finished 2.65 seconds ahead of Palla. The victory also gave Forget the women’s giant slalom discipline title.
Palla continued her strong New Zealand campaign with another podium. The British racer finished among the top three in three consecutive giant slaloms during the Southern Hemisphere swing.
Klopfenstein placed third, while Butler finished fourth, only 0.16 seconds away from the podium. France’s Violette Leydet and New Zealand’s Alaska Speedy completed the top six.
Race penalty: 19.57 FIS points
- 🇨🇦 1st: Arianne Forget — 2:01.51 — 19.57 FIS point result
- 🇬🇧 2nd: Victoria Palla — 2:04.16 (+2.65) — 41.60 FIS point result
- 🇨🇭 3rd: Amelie Klopfenstein — 2:04.72 (+3.21) — 46.25 FIS point result
- 🇬🇧 4th: Molly Butler — 2:04.88 (+3.37) — 47.58 FIS point result
- 🇫🇷 5th: Violette Leydet — 2:06.57 (+5.06) — 61.63 FIS point result
- 🇳🇿 6th: Alaska Speedy — 2:06.72 (+5.21) — 62.88 FIS point result
Complete Sept. 7 women’s giant slalom results
Forget takes women’s giant slalom title
Forget’s Coronet Peak victory lifted her to 150 points and the women’s giant slalom title. Palla finished only 10 points behind, while Butler completed the discipline standings podium.
Bocock placed fourth with 100 points. Klopfenstein finished fifth, four points behind the American.
- 🇨🇦 1st: Arianne Forget — 150 points
- 🇬🇧 2nd: Victoria Palla — 140
- 🇬🇧 3rd: Molly Butler — 130
- 🇺🇸 4th: Elisabeth Bocock, Stifel U.S. Ski Team — 100
- 🇨🇭 5th: Amelie Klopfenstein — 96
- 🇳🇿 6th: Alaska Speedy — 66
Sixth-place Speedy finished as the highest-ranked eligible Australian or New Zealand athlete and earned the ANC women’s giant slalom World Cup start position.
Butler completes consistent campaign with overall title
Butler combined her slalom title with third place in the giant slalom standings to win the women’s overall crown. Her 350 points gave her a 112-point advantage over Klopfenstein.
Palla finished third overall, only seven points behind the Swiss racer. Smart placed fourth, while Bocock finished fifth.
Forget’s giant slalom victory moved her to seventh overall with 150 points.
Butler now carries a Continental Cup overall title into the 2026-27 season as she pursues her first World Cup start.
- 🇬🇧 1st: Molly Butler — 350 points
- 🇨🇭 2nd: Amelie Klopfenstein — 238
- 🇬🇧 3rd: Victoria Palla — 231
- 🇨🇦 4th: Amelia Smart — 195
- 🇺🇸 5th: Elisabeth Bocock, Stifel U.S. Ski Team — 174
Drukarov wins first of two Sept. 8 giant slaloms
After losing the Sept. 7 men’s giant slalom to the weather, organizers completed two races the following day.
Lithuania’s Drukarov won the first by 0.11 seconds. He overcame Italian first-run leader Francesco Riccardo Zucchini to finish in 1:49.62.
Drukarov now trains in a small independent program with Estonia’s Laine. His coach, Hugh Brooks, set the second run.
Denmark’s Christian Borgnaes, now racing with Spyder Redline Alpine, finished third. Slovakian brothers Andreas and Adam Zampa tied for fourth.
Patrick Kenney led the Americans in sixth, only 0.96 seconds behind the winner. Kenney is a programmed Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete. He is included in the team’s program but is not a named team member and remains self-funded.
Named Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete Cooper Puckett placed eighth.
Race penalty: 15.03 FIS points
- 🇱🇹 1st: Andrej Drukarov — 1:49.62 — 15.03 FIS point result
- 🇮🇹 2nd: Francesco Riccardo Zucchini — 1:49.73 (+0.11) — 16.04 FIS point result
- 🇩🇰 3rd: Christian Borgnaes — 1:50.03 (+0.41) — 18.81 FIS point result
- 🇸🇰 T-4th: Andreas Zampa — 1:50.53 (+0.91) — 23.41 FIS point result
- 🇸🇰 T-4th: Adam Zampa — 1:50.53 (+0.91) — 23.41 FIS point result
- 🇺🇸 6th: Patrick Kenney, programmed Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete — 1:50.58 (+0.96) — 23.88 FIS point result
- 🇫🇷 7th: Jonas Skabar — 1:51.23 (+1.61) — 29.86 FIS point result
- 🇺🇸 8th: Cooper Puckett, Stifel U.S. Ski Team — 1:51.27 (+1.65) — 30.23 FIS point result
Complete Sept. 8 men’s giant slalom results
Hagen closes series with commanding victory
Hagen controlled the second men’s giant slalom of the day. The 19-year-old Norwegian won in 1:45.46 and beat Drukarov by 0.81 seconds.
Drukarov’s runner-up finish secured the New Zealand Cup giant slalom title. It also moved him to third in the overall standings.
Townsend Mikell gave the United States its only podium of the Coronet Peak finale. The American climbed six positions in the second run to finish third, 1.11 seconds behind Hagen.
Borgnaes and Adam Zampa completed the top five. Both finished among the first five in each Sept. 8 giant slalom.
Race penalty: 15.00 FIS points
- 🇳🇴 1st: Storm Andre Hagen — 1:45.46 — 15.00 FIS point result
- 🇱🇹 2nd: Andrej Drukarov — 1:46.27 (+0.81) — 22.76 FIS point result
- 🇺🇸 3rd: Townsend Mikell — 1:46.57 (+1.11) — 25.63 FIS point result
- 🇩🇰 4th: Christian Borgnaes — 1:47.46 (+2.00) — 34.15 FIS point result
- 🇸🇰 5th: Adam Zampa — 1:47.48 (+2.02) — 34.35 FIS point result
Complete Sept. 8 men’s giant slalom results
Drukarov wins men’s giant slalom crown
Drukarov won the giant slalom title with 216 points, only 16 ahead of Hagen. His seventh-place result at Mount Hutt proved important, as did Hagen’s failure to finish the first Coronet Peak giant slalom.
Borgnaes placed third, 26 points behind Drukarov. Zucchini finished fourth, while Adam Zampa completed the top five.
- 🇱🇹 1st: Andrej Drukarov — 216 points
- 🇳🇴 2nd: Storm Andre Hagen — 200
- 🇩🇰 3rd: Christian Borgnaes — 190
- 🇮🇹 4th: Francesco Riccardo Zucchini — 176
- 🇸🇰 5th: Adam Zampa — 145
Snow Australia national team member and University of Sydney student Hugh McAdam finished 22nd with 30 points. However, he was the highest-ranked eligible Australian or New Zealand athlete and earned the ANC men’s giant slalom World Cup start position.
Meissl claims men’s overall championship
Meissl’s consistent slalom performances and additional giant slalom points carried him to the men’s overall title with 312 points.
Hagen finished second with 282, 30 behind the Austrian. Drukarov took third, only six points behind Hagen.
Skabar finished fourth, while Zucchini completed the overall top five.
- 🇦🇹 1st: Christoph Meissl — 312 points
- 🇳🇴 2nd: Storm Andre Hagen — 282
- 🇱🇹 3rd: Andrej Drukarov — 276
- 🇫🇷 4th: Jonas Skabar — 244
- 🇮🇹 5th: Francesco Riccardo Zucchini — 213
The weather-shortened series still produced winners from four countries and podium finishers from 10 nations. The depth of the field gave established World Cup racers, emerging athletes and independent teams meaningful competition before the season shifted north.
Butler and Meissl left New Zealand as the overall champions. Meanwhile, Smart, Carrick-Smith, Forget, Drukarov and Hagen closed the Southern Hemisphere campaign with victories.
After a difficult series shaped by cancellations, the focus now turns toward the approaching 2026-27 World Cup and World Championship season.
About the Author: Matt Garcka
