Kiwi misses out on medal at Winter Games

Christchurch's Carlos Garcia Knight has fallen short in his attempt to win New Zealand's second Winter Olympics medal.

The 20-year-old slopestyle snowboarder was gunning to join Annelise Coberger, also from Christchurch, who won silver in the alpine skiing slalom at the 1992 Games in France.

Garcia Knight led the field after the first run in PyeongChang, surprising pundits and international TV commentators, one of whom described Garcia Knight as an "afterthought" in medal calculations.

Canada's Mark McMorris and Norway's Staale Sandbech overtook Garcia Knight on the second run, leaving the Kiwi in third.

Garcia Knight's podium place looked in initial trouble from Canadian Sebastien Toutant's third run until he came adrift at the end.

"On the last run I was really nervous I got a little bit overwhelmed. But to come fifth at my first Olympics, I'm relatively happy," Garcia Knight said after the event.

But American 17-year-old Redmond Gerrard put on a brilliant show to take the gold medal position, emulating countryman Sage Kotsenburg's surprise performance in Sochi.

Garcia Knight followed next, and he crashed early on his final run leaving him in fourth place at best.

Garcia Knight eventually finished fifth.