Winter Olympic champion Nico Porteous has made a successful return to competition, snatching a ski superpipe silver medal at the Aspen X-Games.
Porteous, 22, last appeared at the event two years ago, when he grabbed victory on the last run of the competition.
After knee surgery in April 2022, he took a year away from the sport, but has showed he's still a force to contend with, elevating from fifth to second on his third and final run of the day.
A feature of his performance was a unique move that saw him execute a right double cork 1620 on the left wall, then cut back to the left wall for a left alley-oop flat 540.
"The guys came up with the plan to do two hits on the left wall," said Snow Sports NZ coach Byron Wells. "Every day, we have been on snow, we have worked and worked on it.
"It's so epic to see it pay off and for Nico to put that down in front of the world - we are both ecstatic."
American Alex Ferreira headed Porteous overall, but the result marks the fourth X-Games podium finish for the Kiwi.
"It feels amazing," said Porteous. "It's been two years since I have been on the podium, with the year off.
"I have been switching up how I ski and tonight I wanted to express myself. I did what I wanted to do and it paid off.
"I am over the moon."
