Rebecca Torr (20), of Te Puke, who finished fourth in the women's snowboard slopestyle final, said she was thrilled to qualify in third place and compete against gold medallist slopestyle rider Enni Rukajarvi, of Finland.
"... to me she is the best in the world. To ride against her was fun," Torr said.
Torr felt her first run on the Snow Park course was not good enough, so went with her "safety run" on her second attempt and did not do the harder tricks she was keen to try.
"I didn't do what I wanted to do, but to get fourth on a safety run is pretty awesome," she said.
Ben Comber (30), of Christchurch, qualified in first place in the men's snowboard slopestyle and preserved it during his first run.
But eventual gold medallist Staale Sandbech (17), of Norway, saved his best run to last, pushing Comber and others out of the top spots.
Comber said he was "absolutely happy" with his performance.
"I consistently did switchback 900s, which I've just learned, and I also landed a frontside 1080 in the very final run.
"I had only once landed it before, in practice . . .
"I didn't get a chance to stop and think about it too much before the event, but now I realise the calibre [of the field]," Comber said.
Torr, who is based at Mt Ruapehu, has had two overseas seasons at Breckenridge, Colorado, and said she had not had much formal coaching until being selected to represent New Zealand.
Comber is based at Mt Hutt and has been coached by Jody Blatchley, of Wanaka, for the last seven weeks.
Comber had never competed at FIS level before and his previous best result was winning the slopestyle at the New Zealand junior snowboard championships last year.
Both athletes focus exclusively on slopestyle, although Torr said she was toying with entering the halfpipe event.
They will compete again in the big air competition on the closing day of the championships tomorrow week, at Cardrona Alpine Ski Resort.
