Alex Pullin has bounced back to his best qualifying form in the Stoneham World Cup, but unfortunately has not been able to convert that into a top ten result.

The 21-year-old AIS snowboarder rode to fourth place in the timed round of qualification, taking one minute and 4.83 seconds down the Quebec snowboard cross course.

Fastest qualifier was Canadian rider Robert Fagan, in 1:03.85,  just 0.28 of a second ahead of 2009 world champion Markus Schairer of Austria.

In the finals round of 32, Pullin finished in third place in his heat, missing a spot in the quarter final round, and eventually finishing in 17th place overall.

Schairer went on to take the gold medal from US riders Jonathon Cheever and Seth Westcott.

“Alex qualified well with fourth and that was an improvement over his first run,” said OWI/AIS Head Snowboard Coach Ben Wordsworth.

“He’s really learning the courses fast and transferring that knowledge over into top qualifying runs.”

OWI team-mate Damon Hayler opted not to compete after incurring a minor shoulder injury in the previous World Cup at Cypress Mountain.

Both athletes will line up on Friday Australian time in Sunday River, Maine.

In halfpipe, Ben Mates was the best of the Australians, finishing in 17th place with a best run score of 37.4 in qualifying.

Nate Johnstone was two places further back with his top-scoring run worth 36.6 points.

Holly Crawford was a non-starter in the women’s event, nursing a bruised sternum after her fall in the Cypress Mountain pipe, while Hannah Trigger finished in 35th position.

Jeff Batchelor led a Canadian sweep of the podium with a 44.4 points run, while the Japanese women also took all three medals, Soko Yamaoka collecting the gold.