Kiwi snowboarder Tiarn Collins will enter next week's World Cup finale atop the leaderboard, after winning the slopestyle event at Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic.
After qualifying second in his heat, the NZ Winter Olympian sat sixth before his second and final run, but nailed a technical routine that earned 90.25 from the judges - the only score over 90 for the competition - and wild applause from spectators.
Collins, 22, had to adapt his performance on an unconventional course that included rail features at the top and between jumps.
"I'm so stoked, I wasn't expecting that," he says. "I wasn't even going for the win, I just wanted to put something down and it worked out - I'm hyped."
The result marks his second World Cup victory, after winning at Calgary, Canada, in February 2020. Collins was 2017 world junior bronze medallist in slopestyle, but missed the Olympic final at Beijing, finishing 18th.
He will now try to defend his top spot at the final World Cup event of the season at Silvaplana, Switzerland next weekend.
