Wanaka snowboarder Rebecca Sinclair finished sixth in the
women's half-pipe at the Burton United States Open, held in
Stratton, Vermont, yesterday.
Sinclair's result was the best achievement by a New Zealander
competing at the "home" event of international snowboarding
company Burton.
Sinclair was the top female qualifier to make the event
finals, which was eventually won by 2002 Olympic half-pipe
gold medal winner Kelly Clark, of the United States.
Leading New Zealand men's team snowboarder Mitchell Brown, of
Wanaka, finished the halfpipe qualification rounds in top
place but crashed out during the semifinals.
Japanese rider Kazu Kokubo claimed his second US open title.
Queenstown-based Shelly Gottlieb finished just outside the
finals of the women's slopestyle competition in seventh
place, with fellow New Zealand snowboarding team-mate Rebecca
Torr a spot back in eighth position.
The inaugural FIS Snowboard and Freestyle Junior World
Championships, held in Wanaka last August, is one of three
finalists in Sparc's Event Excellence Awards for 2011.
The event made history as the first world championships to
combine snowboard and freestyle skiing, helping to pave the
way for the introduction of new disciplines into the 2014
Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The junior world championships were jointly run by Snow
Sports New Zealand and Winter Games New Zealand.
The Sparc Awards are designed to recognise the work of people
in the sport and recreation arena.
The winner will be announced at the Sparc Awards in Auckland
on 18 April.
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