Holly Crawford has won her first World Cup event and marched to the top of the World Cup standings with a strong performance in Furano, Japan.
 
Crawford qualified in first place with a best score of 42.4 points, 1.1 points ahead of Paulina Ligocka of Poland, the 2007 World Championships bronze medallist.
 
She did not quite reproduce that form in the final, riding to a best score of 39.6 points, but that was more than enough to take the gold and relegate 2007 World Championships silver medallist Soko Yamaoka to second place.
 
Crawford now leads the World Cup standings on 2250 points, 650 clear of Yamaoka and defending World Cup champion Manuela Pesko who are tied on 1600 points.
 
"Holly rode really strong throughout the day," said OWI Head Snowboard Halfpipe Coach Ben Wordsworth.
 
"She demonstrated some very stylish airs and very progressive snowboarding skills to defeat the strong contingent of Japanese girls."
 
"Her frontside 540 stale, frontside 720 mellon and air to fakie were really impressive and showed she has really stepped up this season to a new level that allows her to mix it with the best in the world."
 
On the men’s side, Andrew Burton had his first top ten result for the season, finishing in sixth place.
 
Crawford and Burton will now travel to Korea for the next FIS World Cup Snowboard event.