Milano Cortina 2026 – Helping Luca Harrington continue stellar form

The results, accolades and awards he received were beyond impressive – 2025 Freeski Big Air World Champion, X Games gold and silver in Slopestyle and Big Air at his debut event and five World Cup podiums including two firsts, two seconds and one third place.

His consistent success on the Big Air World Cup Tour meant Luca became the first Kiwi to win the FIS Freeski Big Air Crystal Globe and his achievements were recognised in New Zealand when he was crowned both 2025 Freeskier of the Year and overall Snow Sports Athlete of the Year at the 2025 Snow Sports NZ Awards.

As he heads towards another northern hemisphere season and his first Olympic Winter Games, a number of Luca’s tight team share the journey they have been on with him and the focus for the next two months.

The tight knit Wānaka snow sports community provides a very special and focussed group of athletes like Luca with a level of support that is seeing New Zealand make a real statement to the international snow sports community.

With High Performance Freeski coach Hamish McDougall helming Luca’s coaching programme, backing him and Luca is a full complement of HPSNZ athlete performance support experts, all with the same laser focus: continue to ensure he is physically and mentally best prepared for the upcoming season, including Milano Cortina 2026.

“The tight team has absolute clarity about what really matters and is critical to helping guide and frame things for Luca,” says Hamish.

“I’ve been coaching Luca since 2019 when he was invited to enter the Snow Sports NZ pathway programme. Coached by his dad up until then, he entered the programme with a strong passion for snow sports instilled by his parents, and a competitive hunger bred out of a sporting and active family.

“Luca is a young but enormously talented, professional and dedicated athlete. He takes total ownership of his preparation and presentation of his annual Individual Performance Plan (IPP) to the CEO, General Manager of High Performance, myself and the rest of his tight team.

“This is one of the most important parts of Luca’s annual planning and preparation as it provides his whole team with a focus and clarity on what actually matters. It guides what changes we make to ensure his podium and gold medal performances continue. In his case we adopt a less is more approach and make only two or three on snow changes a priority and two to three off the snow.”

Luca Harrington during Mens Ski Slopestyle Final at 2025 X Games Aspen at Buttermilk in Aspen, CO. ©Trevor Brown, Jr./X Games

Hamish calls out two of Luca’s support team – physiotherapist Sarah Gillespie and S&C Shane Crowhen, both of whom he describes as mainstays and who have been with him since the beginning.

“Sarah is exceptionally good at creating meaningful relationships and we lean on her a lot. She’s a super important part of the tight team, has lots of athlete face time and has a particularly good connection with Luca, as does Shane,” says Hamish.

For her part, Sarah says it has been really cool to see Luca develop physically and mentally as an athlete over the past six years.

“Over the years I’ve worked with Luca as he’s gone through adolescence and the associated growth and development while competing at the highest level,” says Sarah.

“As a result his body has had to adjust to loads at a time when his body is growing. This has meant a focus on core and postural strength and mobility.”

Shane has worked with Luca for around four years but has known him since he started going to the Snow Sports NZ gym as a young development athlete.

Keeping Luca strong and powerful but not overcooking it is the challenge for Shane.

“This season we’ve had more of a focus on Luca’s full body power to be able to produce enough rotational power to successfully perform his high end tricks.

“Even though he is still young, Luca is one of our more senior athletes and has a good feel for what he needs and is good at expressing and communicating that.

“He’s super independent in the gym environment, however we touch base once a week to make sure we are getting the training load right and making adjustments on the fly, based on on-snow training conditions and opportunities.”

Managing the load is also a key focus for Sarah.

“When Luca is in New Zealand I see him on the hill in a training environment or in the gym so I can see his load. This allows me to act early to prevent or manage niggles.”

Sarah is on the ground with him in Europe now, returns to New Zealand at Christmas and then will be back in Italy with the Park and Pipe team during the Olympic Winter Games.

Providing support for the off the snow part of Luca’s life is the role of HPSNZ Performance Life Coach, Carol Goodlass, who, like Sarah, has been working with him since he was 14.

“Luca’s potential was clear from a very young age and he has probably been one of the most responsive and professional athletes I’ve worked with,” says Carol.

“When he moved into the high performance programme I began working with him one on one to help him with his life plan to manage his dual career as a person at school and as a high performance athlete.

“Since he finished school, he has been chipping away at study to prepare himself for a post sport career.”

Carol works with the rest of Luca’s tight team to help him achieve his goals.

“I collaborate with the other members of the team including attending Luca’s regular APS meetings and assisting in the preparation of his IPP.”

Like the other members of Luca’s team, Carol says he is an incredible young man. “At the ripe old age of 21, Luca is already a role model for younger athletes.”

“The goal of all his support team is to ensure he goes into the Games with eyes wide open. Our goal is to ensure he is not surprised by anything,” says Hamish.