Tess Coady has narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in the slopestyle event at the World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia.

After qualifying for finals in sixth place earlier in the day, the 2022 Olympic bronze medallist stepped it up in finals, scoring 78.88 points on her first run, and put down an even better second run with 82.85 points, with the improvement coming in her jumps, missing out on the second World Championship podium of her career by just 0.20 points.

Taking the win was Mia Brookes from Great Britain who scored a 91.38, with New Zealander Zoe Sadowski Synnott in second place on 88.78, with Miyabi Onitsuka of Japan in third with 83.05.
 
“I am so stoked with how today went” said the 22-year-old from Melbourne.

“I was so nervous for qualifications, but when you’re in the final you can just play around and it’s your time to shine I guess."

“My last run I was really stoked with, as I was already in fourth, and I had four points to make up to be on the podium.  Talking to my coach Stan, we were like, should we just do a clean-up run, and I was like, you know what, I am here to put it all on the table, so I did, and I landed it and it felt really good so was hyped with how I rode.

“It was a really long day, we were out getting ready for practise whilst it was still dark, so been on the mountain for a few hours. This is the best weather we have had since we have been here, the snow is slushy, and that’s what you get when you have good weather, the performances were sick.”

Making their World Championship debuts were NSWIS riders Melia Stalker who made finals finishing in 11th place and Jessie Parkinson in 23rd.

The slopestyle athletes will be back in action in Bakuriani competing in the big air event qualifications on Saturday, with finals on Sunday.

Teenage snowboard sensation Valentino Guseli has claimed back-to-back World Cup halfpipe silver medals, after finishing second in Calgary, Canada, and also made finals in the slopestyle event with a sixth place performance.

The halfpipe competition in Calgary was the final World Cup tour event of the season, with the podium performance moving Guseli into second place in the end of season rankings.

The NSWIS rider has further increased his lead the top of the World Cup snowboard standings, incorporating results from halfpipe, slopestyle and big air events in the race for the overall park & pipe “crystal globe” title.

\In the best of three run finals format, Guseli had his highest score in his final run, scoring 82 points, to give the 17-year-old the sixth World Cup podium of his career.

Finishing ahead of Guseli in first place was Japanese rider Ruka Hirano with 88.50 points, with his fellow countryman Shuichiro Shigeno in third with 81.75.

Also in action for Australia making her World Cup debut was Sascha Elvy in ninth place, just missing out on the eight woman final.

Two days later Guseli was back in action competing in the slopestyle discipline.

Drawn in heat two, Guseli qualified for finals in second place giving him a direct path to the final avoiding the semi-final stage.

In the best of three run final, Guseli had his highest score in run two, with 70.70 points, which put him in sixth place.

The teenager is now ranked an incredible first by an unassailable margin of 126 points in the overall snowboard park & pipe standings, and has already finished the season ranked second in halfpipe, first in big air and is currently second in slopestyle with only one event remaining in Silvaplana, Switzerland, on March 26.

Up next is the FIS Snowboard World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia, which will run from February 19 to March 5, with Guseli's first event the snowboard slopestyle qualifications on February 24.

Teen snowboard prodigy Valentino Guseli has created history to become only the fourth snowboarder to podium in all three park and pipe disciplines of big air, slopestyle and halfpipe, and the first rider to ever achieve the feat in the one season after a double podium performance in Mammoth Mountain, USA.
 
With each discipline becoming so specialised, Guseli’s achievement is truly extraordinary at just 17-yers-of-age, as no other rider is capable of performing in more than one event at such a high level.
 
Competing in the best of three run halfpipe final, Guseli’s put down his highest scoring run first up with 85.25 points.
 
Guseli’s run began with the massive switch method that has been his signature this season, before going switch frontside 1080 indy, then a frontside 1260 tail grab, a backside 900 weddle, and finally a near-perfect frontside 1440 tail grab.
 
Japanese rider Ruka Hirano finished in first place with a score of 91.50 points, with American Chase Blackwell taking the final spot on the podium in third with 84 points.
 
Guseli was then scheduled to quickly back up his halfpipe performance by competing in the slopestyle final straight after, but unfortunately increasing high winds forced the event to be cancelled due to rider safety.
 
This meant that results from the qualification round ran three days earlier would stand as the final results, which had Guseli in second place with a score of 81.50 in his first run, with American Dusty Henricksen taking the win with a score of 88.68 and his teammate Chris Corning in third with 81.33.
 
“I’m just super hyped to have landed my tricks this week and got some pretty good results,” Guseli said before slopestyle awards, downplaying his history-making week, “It’s a little bit unfortunate we didn’t get to have at it today in slopestyle, but I’m happy pipe ran and I’m happy with my riding.”
 
Pushed to consider all the great riders who had come before him and not accomplished what he’s done this season, Guseli dove into it a little further.
 
“Wow. I guess I’m not really feeling it too much yet, but I’m honoured. I’m so hyped. I just want to keep pushing - for podiums, wins, records…I guess (laughing). But really I just want to keep loving my life and snowboarding and hanging out with awesome people and being in awesome situations like this one.”
 
Guseli’s other World Cup podium performance this season came in December with a big air gold medal in Edmonton, Canada, and he also won his first ever X-Games medal with a bronze in Aspen, USA, last week. 
 
The snowboard athletes will now head to Calgary, Canada, for the next round of World Cup competition, which will include a halfpipe event on February 10 and slopestyle on February 12.