Auckland Ice Figure Skater Yanhao (Dwayne) Li has executed a stunning routine to place fourth at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon South Korea.

The Auckland 15-year-old was in fine form, nailing a triple lutz, and a triple flip, triple toe loop combination, to score 68.01 in front of a packed crowd at the Gangneung Ice Arena.

It is New Zealand’s Ice Figure Skating debut at any form of Winter Olympic Games.

“I really liked the atmosphere, and it was really great to skate in there even though I was a bit nervous,” says Dwayne.

“I felt really proud when I finished and saw the New Zealand flag in the audience, it was an amazing feeling.”

The skater also had to battle through a bloody nose, which struck halfway through his routine.

“I was just in the middle of a spin and it started going all over the place. It’s happened quite a few times before in training, so I just pushed on and finished my routine. It was actually pretty funny.”

Dwayne was born in Beijing, China where he began skating aged four before his family immigrated to New Zealand when he was aged eight.

Dwayne will compete again in the men’s individual free skating competition on January 29.

It was also a big day of competition for New Zealand’s Freeski and Snowboard athletes with Big Air qualification underway.

Auckland Ice Figure Skater Yanhao (Dwayne) Li battled through a bloody nose to place fourth at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in South Korea. Photo: Supplied.

First up at Welli Helli Ski Resort were Ava Beer and Lucia Georgalli. Beer was solid in both her runs to qualify in third, with Georgalli landing a solid second run to qualify in fifth.

“It was really fun today, the conditions were on and I’m just really stoked that I landed both my runs,” says Ava.

In the men’s Snowboard Big Air Cam Melville Ives and Txema Mazet Brown were impressive from the outset, both stomping their first runs to put down scores in the high 80s and qualify for finals.

“The course was running super good and it was great to get that first run down. I’m just stoked all round and ready for finals tomorrow,” says Mazet Brown.

In the men’s Freeski Big Air Luke Harrold qualified in fourth for finals while Hamish Barlow wrapped his campaign, finishing in 17th.

The mixed doubles curling also got underway with New Zealand beating Brazil 12-5 in their opening match.

The Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games

Gangwon 2024 will be a celebration of sport, competition, culture and education, with the Games being held in the Gangwon Province (across four cities - Gangneung, Pyeongchang, Jeongseon, and Hoengseong) of South Korea.

The Games runs from January 19 - February 1 and will welcome almost 2000 young athletes (aged between 14 and 18 years old) from around the world to compete in seven sports, 15 disciplines and 81 events.

New Zealand is being represented by 22 athletes in Gangwon, consisting of seven freestyle/freeski athletes, five snowboard athletes, four curlers, three alpine ski racers, one luge athlete, one biathlete and one figure skater.

Gangwon 2024 aims to build upon the Olympic Games legacy, using many of the existing venues from the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. The aim is to ensure a cost efficient and sustainable Youth Olympic Games, while at the same time providing young athletes the opportunity to compete in some of the same sites as Olympians did a few years ago.