Top ten for Tess

Tess Coady has come 6th in the Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup in the Czech Republic this weekend and will get ready for the Snowboard Junior World Championship later this week.

Coady and her coach were elated when she qualified in second place in the slopestyle finals in the final Snowboard World Cup event in Spindleruv Mlyn on Saturday, heading straight into the final round.

"I'm stoked to be riding a much more creative and different course" Coady said of the park features.  "It was a really great atmosphere at the top and the bottom of the course. There was a massive crowd cheering and the course was riding really well so it was super motivating to put a run down!"

In the final round, 16 year old Kiwi Zoe Sadowski Synnott prevailed, with a half cab to 50-50 to backside 180 out, cab 180, 50-50 to backside 360, 50-50 to frontside 360, lipslide, double wildcat indy to score 87.35 and win the gold.

Coady came sixth with 66.68, putting her into 21st position overall in slopestyle World Cup standings just in front of fellow Aussie Jess Rich in 22nd place.  Rich did not compete this weekend but both girls will look towards Olympic qualification over the next few months. 

Jamie Anderson (USA) also sat out the final having secured her career's fourth slopestyle World Cup globe and Anna Gasser (AUT) was also absent from competition, having already claimed the overall snowboard freestyle World Cup title prior to the final stop of the long season. 

At just age 16, Coady has a big snowboarding career ahead of her, having made her debut on the World Cup and World Championship circuit this year and having a huge impact securing top ten results in major slopestyle events, including:

• 8th in Mile High (Elite level field World Snowboard Tour event)
• 6th World Cup, Mammoth Mountain, USA
• 11th World Championships, Sierra Nevada, Spain
• 6th World Cup, Spindleruv Mlvn, Czech Republic
   

Tess will compete in the Snowboard Junior World Championships also in the Czech Republic this weekend where she has potential to increase her world rankings to inside the top 20. 

The Slopestyle event will be contested on the Friday, and Big Air on the Saturday.

Alexandra Rouse
Ski & Snowboard Australia