Thursday, January 05, 2006

Australian snowboarder Damon Hayler has ridden to his second top ten result of the season, finishing tenth in a snowboard World Cup in Bad Gastein, Austria.

Hayler qualified in thirteenth place, then won his way through the round of sixteen before going out in the quarter-final round.

The 29-year-old Dee Why rider collected his first bronze medal result in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, at the end of October, and has now climbed to 14th on the World Cup snowboard standings.

Team-mate Kai Robrahn finished in 63rd place, the gold medal going to Canadian Drew Neilson ahead of US rider Shaun Palmer.

In the women's event, Emily Thomas was below her best, finishing in 41st place in qualifying and missing a place in the 16-woman finals rounds. Stephanie Hickey was two places further back in 43rd position.

Canadian Dominique Maltais won the event. Another round of the World Cup will be held Friday morning AEST.

Damon Hayler (right) on the podium in Saas-Fee in October with gold medallist Nate Holland and silver medallist Xavier Delerue.

Courtesy of OWI/Sportcom