Snowboarding: Brown flying flag for Kiwi men in semis

Snowboarder Mitchell Brown will be the sole New Zealand male representing home hopes on the final day of competition at the Burton Open at Cardrona Alpine Resort tomorrow.

Brown, the 2007 Burton Open halfpipe champion, progressed to the semifinals of the competition tomorrow morning after he carded a seventh-placed score of 77.50 during yesterday's qualification rounds.

He and younger sister Kendall Brown, an invited rider in the women's draw, are the only Kiwis to feature in the semifinals of halfpipe competition.

Ben Stewart, of Whangamata, was unlucky to miss out on joining the Brown siblings in the semis, when he finished 12th in the men's qualification round, two spots shy of the cut.

Injury and ill-health kept New Zealand's Paula Mitchell and Juliane Bray from competing in the women's slopestyle qualifications.

Mitchell pulled out after training runs aggravated an ongoing knee injury, while Bray, who has the best record of any New Zealander competing on home turf at the Burton Open, was laid low by a virus.

The competition returns to Cardrona's custom-made slopestyle course today, where top-ranked New Zealand rider Shelly Gotlieb is a podium contender in the women's draw.

Queenstown-based Gotlieb will be aiming to improve on her third place from last year, when she held top spot throughout the competition until her last run of the final.

Gotlieb will need to get past back-to-back NZ Open slopestyle winner Jamie Anderson, of the US, who will line up as the overwhelming favourite as she bids for her third straight title.

In the men's slopestyle, homegrown hopes lie with Stef Zeestraten, of Wanaka, who finished as the top-placed Kiwi male in last year's competition when he came sixth.

Zeestraten is joined in the slopestyle by James Hamilton, of Auckland, the only New Zealander to proceed from qualifying on Wednesday.

Joint favourites for the men's slopestyle are US rider Louie Vito and Finland's Mikkel Bang, although form can count for little in a snowboarding discipline that can often surprise.

French-Canadian Sebastien Toutant came from nowhere to win his first major event, surprising everyone with his 2009 slopestyle victory.

Kiwi snowboarding fans will be hoping Gotlieb, Zeestraten, or Hamilton can do the same.