She left it late, but Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen came up with the goods when it mattered most.
The Norwegian produced a sizzling final run to snatch gold from Italian Silvia Bertagna in the women's freestyle ski slopestyle world cup eventat Cardrona yesterday.
Sjaastad Christiansen was sitting in fourth before her final run with a score of 77.80, before leaving her best for last. The 20-year-old's final run included an impressive switch up 1270 to donkey rail, which ultimately helped her score 85.70 and win gold.
''I'm super happy,'' she said immediately after the event.
''I had bombed down to fourth. The first two runs didn't go my way and I had to work really hard and talk to myself.''
Bertagna's second run of 82.80 had launched her to the top of the leader board, and she was left with a nervous wait, after failing to improve on her third run. German Lisa Zimmermann failed to top her with the penultimate run of the event and had to settle for bronze, but Sjaastad Christiansen came through.
''I was just working mentally and working through my run so many times in my head,'' she said.
''The wind was picking up. I tried not to think about it, and told myself that I'm the best in bad weather.''
The Norwegian said the standard of competition was continuing to improve in New Zealand. She will now head home to ''relax for a bit'', before gearing up for the northern hemisphere season starting in December.
