Three New Zealanders finished inside the top 10 at the freeski slopestyle competition at the Snow Park yesterday for the World Junior Snowboard and Freestyle Championships.
Wanaka's world champion freeskier, Jossi Wells (20), did not line up in yesterday's event as he continues to recover from a broken ankle sustained two months ago.
It was left to his younger brother, Byron (18), to carry New Zealand's hopes, while Hamish McDougall (20), of Wanaka, and Matt Johnson (19), of Queenstown, also had aims of a podium finish.
However, the promising trio of Southern Lakes skiers could not match the aerial efforts of eventual winner Bobby Brown (19), of the United States.
Brown's win continued a run of success on New Zealand's snowy slopes, after he won slopestyle titles at the NZ Freeski Open and the NZ Winter Games last year.
Brown was edged into second place at this year's NZ Freeski Open but stepped up yesterday to win his first Junior World Championship slopestyle crown.
He was joined on the winner's podium by compatriot Jamie Crane-Mauzy (17), who secured gold in the girls' slopestyle competition.
Crane-Mauzy held on to win by 0.4 of a point from countrywomen Keltie Hansen (18) and Devin Logan (19).
American Gus Kenworthy was second in the boys' competition, while Jonas Huniker, of Switzerland, broke the North Americans' stranglehold on the podium to finish third.
Byron Wells was the best-placed New Zealander in fifth, while McDougall claimed seventh and Johnson eighth.
The Junior Worlds continue at Cardrona Alpine Resort today, where the halfpipe qualification round is taking place.
