‘Amazing’ result for Collins

QUEENSTOWN snowboarder Tiarn Collins has secured a careerbest result two months out from the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea.

The 17yearold finished second at the Big Air World Cup held in Beijing.

Collins, who was named in the New Zealand Olympic team last month, signalled he was in good form during Friday’s qualifying rounds in which he earned the top score against a strong international field.

Competition took place on a massive scaffolding ramp constructed in the Workers’ Stadium in the Chinese capital. Riders were given two runs to land their best trick and make the cut for the finals.

‘‘This was the first competition of the season for me and my main goal for this event was to land a backside triple cork in the competition,’’ Collins said.

‘‘I really wanted to do this trick because I had never done it in a competition and I felt since the airplusstyle is such an iconic event, it would be the perfect place to do it. So I was super stoked to have just landed the trick, and then when I saw the score and my placing it was an amazing feeling.’’

The 10man finals were judged on the best two out of three runs, with Collins landing a backside 1440 mute and cab 1440 double nose grab.

Olympic 2014 slopestyle bronze medallist Mark McMorris (Canada) won and Torgeir Bergrem (Norway) was third.

New Zealand’s Carlos Garcia Knight finished 15th while Natalie Good (Cambridge) and Christy Prior (Kaukapakapa) finished 10th and 15th respectively in the women’s field.

Prior and Good will now head to Germany to compete in another Big Air World Cup in Moenchengladbach on December 2. Collins and Knight will stay on in China to compete in a slopestyle event next week.

Wanaka freeskier Jackson Wells is also preparing for the Slopestyle World Cup in Stubai, Austria. Wells finished fourth in his heat in Friday’s qualifying rounds to secure his spot in the 16man final.