Aussie teen takes bronze as Olympics loom
Snowboarder Tess Coady's chances of representing Australia at the upcoming Winter Olympics in PyeongChang are looking good after she got a podium finish at the Slopestyle World Cup final in Snowmass, Colorado.
Coady scored 75.43 to take bronze behind winner Christy Prior of New Zealand (77.06) and Japan's Reira Iwabuchi (76.48).
The results show the battle at the Olympics could well be between the sport's young guns - 17-year-old Coady is the reigning junior world champion, while Iwabuchi, at 16, is the current world number one.
After a "pretty mellow" first run, Coady spent most of Friday's finals in second place before her third run briefly bumped her into the top spot and she fell away to third.
"My second run had some problems with speed because of the wind," she said.
"In my third run I did a trick I haven't done all season which I was pretty nervous about, I just haven't had a good chance to do any this year because sometimes my first run's a bit sketchy."
Coady, who is still in high school, started competing internationally in 2017 and rose to prominence after claiming both the Big Air and Slopestyle Junior World Championships within the space of two days.
