Joh Shaw has claimed the second top five result of her World Cup snowboard career, riding to fifth place in the opening parallel slalom event of the 2008/09 season.
Competing on a 250m indoor course in the Dutch city of Landgraaf, the 26 year-old Mt Buller rider qualified in fifth position, then defeated German rider Isabella Laboeck in her head-to-head round of 16 finals encounter.
In the quarter-finals she came up against defending World Cup champion Nicolien Sauerbreij of The Netherlands, going down narrowly by just 0.17 of a second over the two rounds of racing.
Austrian Doris Guenther won the event, compatriot Heidi Neururer was second while Sauerbreij was third.
“I was feeling confident and ready after three weeks of great training in the Swiss Alps, and had a solid first run in qualifying for 13th position,” Shaw said.
“After missing out on the finals several times last year by just one or two places, I didn’t want that to happen again, so I gave it my all in the second run and had the second fastest time, only .1 sec behind the best time, and fifth overall in qualifying.”
“I’m very happy with the result and I hope that there are more great results for me this season.”
Shaw’s best result is the fourth placing she collected in Bad Gastein, Austria, in January 2008.
She ended the 2008 season ranked 24th on the World Cup standings, but stood as high as 14th mid-season.
The Olympic Winter Institute rider represented Australia at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics, placing 29th, but can now look to a much better result at the Vancouver Games in 16 months time.
The alpine snowboard circuit now takes a two month break, resuming with a parallel giant slalom in Piemonte Limone, Italy, on December 14.