Lydia Lassila has been named the Ski and Snowboard Australia Athlete of the Year, taking the honour ahead of a strong group of medal winning skiers and riders.

Lassila’s effort in winning her first World Cup title sealed the award for the 27-year-old AIS skier, who had finished second on the standings on four previous occasions.

Torah Bright was a worthy contender for the title after a another brilliant season on the US pro snowboard circuit, taking out the XGames Women’s Halfpipe and the Winter Dew Superpipe event at Northstar-at-Tahoe, then ending the season with her second consecutive victory in the US Open.

Along the way she accounted for Salt Lake 2002 gold medallist Kelly Clark - on three occasions - Torino 2006 Olympic champion Hannah Teter and Torino silver medallist Gretchen Bleiler, earning the right to be considered the best halfpipe rider in the world. 

Bright was named SSA Snowboard Athlete of the Year award for her achievements, while the Alpine Athlete of the Year award went to Jono Brauer.

Ben Sim, who produced the best World Championship result of his career this season, claimed the SSA Snowboard Athlete of the Year award for the third consecutive year.

The Outstanding Achievement Award went to Jacqui Cooper in recognition of her becoming the first Australian skier or snowboarder to medal at three world championship events.

OWI/AIS Head Snowboard Coach Ben Wordsworth was named the Coach of the Year, while the title of Junior Athlete of the Year was picked up by AIS rider Nathan Johnstone, number two on the snowboard halfpipe World Cup standings this season.

The full list of awards is:

SSA Athlete of the Year – Lydia Lassila.
SSA Alpine Athlete of the Year – Jono Brauer
SSA Cross Country Athlete of the Year – Ben Sim
SSA Freestyle Athlete of the Year – Lydia Lassila
SSA Snowboard Athlete of the Year – Torah Bright

SSA Outstanding Achievement Award – Jacqui Cooper
2009 Alpine Outstanding Achievement Award – Callum Brown
2009 Cross country Outstanding Achievement Award – Paul Murray
2009 Freestyle Outstanding Achievement Award – Jacqui Cooper
2009 Snowboard Outstanding Achievement Award – Damon Hayler

SSA Coach of the Year – Ben Wordsworth
2009 Alpine Coach of the Year – Christoph Maier
2009 Cross country Coach of the Year – Finn Marsland
2009 Freestyle Coach of the Year – Peter Topalovic
2009 Snowboard Coach of the Year – Ben Wordsworth

SSA Development Coach of the Year – Peter McNiel
2009 Alpine Development Coach of the Year – Jeff Books
2009 Cross country Development Coach of the Year – Cameron Morton
2009 Freestyle Development Coach of the Year – Peter McNiel
2009 Snowboard Development Coach of the Year – Ben Alexander

SSA Junior Athlete of the Year – Nathan Johnstone
2009 Alpine Junior Athlete of the Year – Luke Laidlaw
2009 Cross country Junior Athlete of the Year – Callum Watson
2009 Freestyle Junior Athlete of the Year – Roanna Humphries
2009 Snowboard Junior Athlete of the Year – Nathan Johnstone