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.
