ZOE Gillings opened her 2012-2013 World Cup season up with fifth place at Montafon, Austria on Saturday, beating off stiff competition from Olympic gold medallist Maelle Ricker (Canada) and world No.3 Alexander Jekova (Bulgaria).
The Manx woman qualified fourth out of a field of more than 35 athletes, automatically placing her into the heats.
She went comfortably into the first heat, finishing second, ensuring progression to the semi-finals. A good start from Zoe saw her again take second place but a small mistake midway through the course opened the door for the third-placed boarder to pass her on the third berm, eventually relegating the Ronague woman to third place and into the small final.
Zoe immediately took charge in her final race, passing World No.4 Jekova before winning the heat and securing an overall fifth place World Cup finish.
Commenting afterwards, she said: ‘I made a silly mistake in the semi-final, which meant I could only race for positions five to eight, which I was really disappointed with. But overall, qualifying in fourth and finishing fifth in the first World Cup gives me a lot of confidence at the start of the season.’
‘I would like to say a huge thank you to British Ski and Snowboard Federation and UK Sport without whom I simply wouldn’t be in this position.’
Round two is at Telluride, Colorado this Saturday.