As teenage freeskier Connor Addis has recently proven, it turns out Kiwis can fly - backwards, four times.
Footage has emerged of Addis landing a quadruple backflip on the slopes at Cardrona last week, which is believed to be a world first.
"From what I understand, this is the first [quadruple backflip] ever done," Addis told Newshub.
The 19-year-old first attempted the trick nearly two years ago, but quickly learned he needed a much longer ramp to pull it off.
Last year, the Waiheke Island product was stopped in his tracks by a torn ACL and MCL in his knee, and the larger ramp he needed was built during his recovery.
"The jump wasn't big enough, so my skis just popped off," he recalled.
"If you want to do more stuff in the air, you need more time to do that. I needed something that gave me a good amount of time to rotate."
That helped set the scene for a remarkable return to the slopes, taking advantage of some ideal conditions to nail his epic quad-backflip.
Quadruple backflip attempts have been tried around the world many times before, but until Addis stomped his last week, no evidence existed of anyone sticking a clean landing.
The clip has since gone viral on social media, viewed more than 100,000 times on his Instagram alone.
Next on Addis' list of goals is securing qualification for the freeride world tour. He'll head to Europe in January to compete in a series of qualifiers, where he'll try to earn enough points to book a fulltime spot on the circuit.
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