Snow boarding: Prior's gold perfect timing for trip to Russia

Christy Prior (centre) celebrates her gold with Cheryl Maas (left) and Austria's Anna Gasser in the women's snowboard slopestyle final in Canada yesterday. Photo / AP

World Cup win puts snowboarder in top form for the Olympics, where she's tipped to lead a team of four.

Timing can be everything, as Christy Prior discovered at the final Winter Olympics qualifying event in Canada yesterday.

Prior won the World Cup slopestyle event at Stoneham, her best international result, and with the Winter Games around the corner the win could not have happened at a more opportune time.

Prior got a direct pass into the final by finishing second in her qualifying heat, the last competition for New Zealand's Games contenders to press, or restate, their selection claims. The 25-year-old from Kaukapakapa clinched the win in miserable conditions, with 89.75 points, comfortably seeing off world No 3 Cheryl Maas of the Netherlands and world No 9 Anna Gasser of Austria.

'I'm really happy about how it worked out," Prior said yesterday.

"It's a good confidence boost coming into the Games."

Prior, now ranked No 7 in the world, has been a competitive snowboarder only since 2012. Her strides, since first taking up the sport at 17 at Mt Aspiring College, have been substantial. Hours were spent at the Snow Planet facility near Silverdale on her trips home to the family home too.

"It is late, but not unheard of either," she said. "Most have been snowboarding longer than that. But it's something I did on my own, and decided I wanted to do it so I put my all into it and I think I appreciate it more."

Right now Prior is injury-free, is "very confident, feeling strong and in a good head space". Not a bad way to be with the Olympics a couple of weeks away.

Teammate Rebecca Torr finished ninth in the event yesterday. With the key being ranked inside the top 24, New Zealand should have four slopestylers named when the Olympic squad is revealed - Prior, Torr (No 16), Shelly Gotlieb (No 19) and Steffi Luxton (No 21).

Prior was not the only provider of encouraging news for NZ Winter Olympics officials at the weekend.

Halfpipe specialist Rebecca Sinclair, second at a World Cup in Finland before Christmas, was fourth at Stoneham in her final yesterday and is ranked No 12 in the world, second on the World Cup ladder.

Throw in freeskier Jossi Wells' World Cup win in Switzerland 24 hours earlier - which secured a second male spot in the freeski slopestyle class in Sochi - and it's been a good few days for Kiwis.

Two skeleton racers, Ben Sandford and Katherine Eustace, are likely to win selection for Sochi too.

Sandford, aiming for a third successive Winter Olympics, has been out of sorts recently.

He crashed at high speed during training and had to settle for a safety-first last spot in his World Cup at Igles, Austria. Sandford sits 39th, with the field limited to 32. However, several racers above him will be eliminated on the country quota system and he is expected to still have enough in credit to qualify.

Eustace, a Wanaka physiotherapist, finished 11th in Igles, in 1m 50.16s, 1.12s behind winner and world No 1 Elizabeth Yarnold of Britain, which consolidated her world ranking of 13th. The top 24, after the quota system is run over the contenders, progress to Sochi.

The New Zealand team, expected to total 15, will be named on Friday.

Snow hopes

* Christy Prior won a World Cup snowboarding title in Canada yesterday and looks set to lead a team of four NZ women into the Winter Olympics slopestyle competition in Sochi, Russia.
* Halfpipe snowboarder Rebecca Sinclair finished fourth in her World Cup race, also in Stoneham, and is ranked No 2 in the World Cup and 12th in the world.
* New Zealand are likely to send a team of about 15 to Russia.