NZ Snowboarder Christy Prior Finishes 2nd at Laax Open

NZ snowboarder Christy Prior (Kaukapakapa) has made a strong comeback from injury finishing second in slopestyle at the 2016 Laax Open in Switzerland this morning. With the women’s field stacked with the biggest names in slopestyle today and competition initially delayed due to bad visibility and strong winds, Christy had her work cut out for her.
 
The skies eventually cleared to a beautiful final day of competition and the six female finalists had three runs to give it their best shot.
 
Christy struggled with speed on her first run and misjudged the first jump, coming up short and not making speed for the second jump. Keeping the nerves in check, she pulled out all the stops on her second run which consisted of a cab board slide to regular, nollie back 180 over the wave, cab under flip 5, frontside rodeo 720, backside 540, a pop tart (switch to regular) on the quarter pipe and front board on the last rail. She was rewarded with a score of 71.80 which would see her finish second to Olympic gold medalist, Jamie Anderson with a first run score of 81.10.
 

Photo courtesy of Snow Sports NZ

Anderson showed everyone why she was recently named Snowboarder Magazine’s 2016 Women’s Rider of the Year, landing the cleanest run of the day, complete with a backside blunt 270, backside 540 and a frontside 720 mute.

LAAX OPEN 2016, RESULTS, JAN 23, 2016:
Women’s Slopestyle Final Results
1. Jamie Anderson (USA) 81.10
2. Christy Prior (NZL) 71.80
3. Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN) 62.85
4. Silje Norendal (NOR) 61.55
5. Spencer O’Brien (CAN) 30.35
6. Cheryl Maas (NED) 21.55