Snowboarder Tiarn Collins (17, Queenstown) has secured a career-best result with a second-place finish at the Air+Style, Big Air World Cup held in Beijing, China.
Collins has been named to the New Zealand Olympic team for PyeongChang 2018 to compete in Snowboard big air and slopestyle.
“This was the first competition of the season for me and my main goal was to land a backside triple cork in competition,” said Collins.
“I really wanted to do this trick because I’d never done it in a competition and I felt since the Air + Style is such an iconic event it would be the perfect place to do it. So, I was super stoked to land the trick, and then when I saw the score and my placing it was an amazing feeling.”
Above: Collins in action
The 10-man finals were run in a best two out of three run format with Collins maintaining his strong form and landing a backside 1440 mute and cab 1440 double nose grab.
2014 Olympic slopestyle bronze medallist Mark McMorris (CAN) claimed the win with Torgeir Bergrem (NOR) in third.
Competition took place on a massive scaffolding ramp constructed in the Worker’s Stadium in the Chinese Capital with riders given two runs to land their best trick and make the cut for finals.
NZ’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 2 December. Collins and Garcia Knight will stay on in China to compete in a Slopestyle event next week.
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Above: Event highlights courtesy of FIS Snowboarding