Sochi in sight

Snowboarder Holly Crawford has familiarised herself with the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games in near perfect fashion by winning silver at the Games’ official test event.

Crawford secured silver with her first run in the fina0l of the women’s snowboard half-pipe, scoring 78 points, before a fall in her second run saw the two time Olympian re-aggravate a rib injury. Crawford was unable to attend the medal ceremony, but the podium finish moved her into ninth place on the world cup standings.

Fellow NSWIS athlete Torah Bright finished seventh, Steph Magiros finished 23rd and Alex Fitch finished 31st, while in the men’s snowboard half-pipe Nate Johnstone moved to fourth on the world cup standings with a seventh placed finish.

The men’s snowboard cross event saw Alex Pullin contending for medals before an untimely collision with Frenchman Pierre Vaultier saw him finish fifth, before Belle Brockhoff finished sixth in the women’s snowboard cross.

There was positive news in the freestyle moguls event, with NSWIS athlete Matthew Graham producing a new career best world cup result. Graham finished seventh in the men’s moguls to move up to 15th in the world rankings while also giving him a chance at qualifying for the Sochi Games.

2010 Olympian Britteny Cox finished 14th in the women’s freestyle moguls as fellow NSWIS athletes Taylah O’Neill and Nicole Parks finished 24th and 32nd, respectively.