World Cup success for snowboarders

Christy Prior and Queenstown snowboarder Tiarn Collins (centre) with coaches Sean Thompson (left) and Mitchell Brown celebrate Collins' snowboarding bronze medal in the slopestyle World Cup at Snowmass Resort, Aspen, Colorado, on Friday.

Collins (18) landed clean back-to-back 1260s on the jumps and executed a clean rail section to score 83.57 and claim his first World Cup medal in slopestyle.

The youngster has been named in the New Zealand Olympic team for the PyeongChang 2018 Games next month, where he will contest both slopestyle and big air disciplines.

He won a World Cup silver medal in November 2017.

``I'm over the moon. This is my first big slopestyle podium,'' he said after Friday's event.

``It's definitely a confidence-booster. It's cool to get back into the competition space after the holidays, and even better to podium.''

Kaukapakapa snowboarder Prior won the women's event, landing her signature rodeo 7 and backside 540s.