Australia’s snowboard halfpipe World Champions Holly Crawford and Nathan Johnstone have dominated World Cup qualifying in Calgary, Canada, and go into the finals as favourites to win the series’ fourth round.

Crawford scored 26.2 points in her second qualification run of the day, 1.2 points ahead of China’s Xuetong Cai, who is currently leading the World Cup points standings, with compatriot Zhifeng Sun, a further 3.1 points behind.

Crawford, an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder, is currently third on the standings with 1300 points, 1500 points behind Cai, and needs a win in Calgary to give herself an outside chance of winning this year’s World Cup. There are 3000 points up for grabs in the remaining three rounds, including Calgary.

The Sydneysider ruled the pipe today with a frontside melon to backside mute, frontside 720, cab 360 and a frontside 540.

Teammate Johnstone issued a clear warning to Japan’s Ryo Aono, who is currently leading the AIS scholarship holder by 540 points, that he is focused on winning this year’s World Cup.

Johnstone suffered an energy sapping stomach illness several days before the last time the two rivals competed, which left the Australian unable to perform to his ability.  Until that point, Johnstone was leading the race for the Crystal Globe trophy.

However, a fully recovered Johnstone today showed why he is the reigning World Champion by qualifying 2.3 points ahead of Aono for the final on Sunday morning (AEDT).

Johnstone’s 27.4 and 28.6 point runs were clearly stronger than a less consistent Aono. The Australian wowed the judges with back-to-back 720s, back-to-back 900s and a frontside indy.