OWI scholarship holder Holly Crawford produced a personal best result in the opening event of the 2003/04 FIS Snowboard World Cup as fellow Australian rider Torah Bright narrowly missed a podium place in another personal best performance.
Competing in Valle Nevado, Chile, at the beginning of September, Bright finished in fourth place, just .9 of a point behind third placed Norwegian rider Kjersti Buass.
Crawford, 19, finished in eighth place, just two spots outside the six-woman final.
Bright’s effort in claiming fourth spot was particularly impressive after the 17-year-old Jindabyne rider injured her shoulder in a crash in the first round of the final.
Crawford also crashed in her first run of the qualification round, finishing at the rear of the field.
But she bounced back in her second run to execute the hardest trick produced by any of the women in the event, ‘a rodeo flip'.
The event was won by 16-year-old United States prodigy Hannah Teter from team-mate Lindsey Jacobellis.
Although the field was without the top French riders and several of the leading North Americans, it was still strong, four of the world’s top ten from last season competing.
In the men's event, OWI rider Andrew Burton finished sixth in the first qualification round, missing direct entry into the final by just one place. In the second round of the qualification he could not repeat that performance, crashing out of contention and finishing well down the points table.
Fellow Australian rider Marcus Wehrle finished in 24th place.