Video: Wānaka's Luca Harrington scores silver at Big Air world cup

Aspen, Colorado, USA (7 February 2025) – Luca Harrington (Wānaka, 20) has continued his phenomenal season, securing yet another podium, finishing in second place at the FIS Freeski Big Air World Cup held in Aspen this morning.

A thrilled Harrington explained; “I am unbelievably excited, this season has been incredible for me and to walk away with another medal today is just a dream.”

Harrington qualified in the top spot to finals, and made quick work of getting a score in the 90’s on the board, putting down a right triple corked 1800 safety grab for his first of three finals runs.

 The competition was heated, with athletes throwing down their best tricks but Harrington quickly responded with a precision perfect switch right triple corked 1620 esco grab. The judges loved it and rewarded him with a huge 94.25 for his second run, which had him sitting comfortably in second position with just one run to go.

 Harrington dropped into his final run and was guaranteed a silver medal as the second to last athlete to drop. Always looking to push himself and the sport, Harrington threw down a massive right triple corked 1980 safety grab which improved his score but wasn’t enough to bump Austria’s Matej Svancer off the top spot.

Svancer took the win, with Harrington in second. Konnor Ralph of the USA rounded out the podium in third with first big air world cup podium of his career.

 Harrington, who is currently in second place in the 2025 men’s freeski big air World Cup standings, only secured his first Big Air World Cup podium a little over a month ago and has gone from strength to strength with his flawless execution and highly technical tricks. Today’s result marks his fifth major podium of 2025 (slopestyle and big air).

 “I am not coming into these competitions to win, but to do my absolute best and push myself and push the sport. I am really just proud of my skiing, I do it because it love it but the results are a nice a bonus!” said Harrington.

 Snow Sports NZ High Performance Freeski Coach Hamish McDougall explained how Harrington has been preparing for this intensity over the last few years and his ability to sustain load and how hard he has worked is paying dividends right now.

 The FIS Freeski Slopestyle and Big Air World Cup circuit will now take a short break, resuming in Canada from the 19^th of February.

Main Image: Men’s FIS Freeski Big Air World Cup Podium. [L-R] Luca Harrington (NZL) 2nd, Matej Svancer (AUT) 1st, Konnor Ralph (USA) 3rd. Credit FIS Park & Pipe.