Ben Kilner recorded one of the best finishes of his snowboarding career against a high-quality field at the third halfpipe World Cup of the season in Park City.
The 24-year-old, who competed in the halfpipe for Team GB at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, finishing 18th, made his 38th World Cup start in America.
And he marked the occasion by claiming his fourth top-ten finishing, placing tenth less than two weeks after ranking 16th at the World Championships.
Kilner scored 51.00 on his second outing in the final after a first run effort of 50.00 for 260 World Cup points against a world class field including double Olympic champion Shaun White.
And White, who claimed a sixth successive superpipe title, and eighth in total, at the Winter X Games just last weekend, toasted his surprise start with victory.
Kilner’s best finish remains a third in Calgary less than two weeks before Vancouver 2010 while his second best is seventh in La Molina in March that same year.
He finished 71st at the season opener in Cardrona back in August before ranking 61st last time out on Copper Mountain.
Kilner Tweeted afterwards: “Well I had a blast today! Halfpipe was perfect!! Just had a few errors in the runs. I'll take 10th any day against that field!”
© Sportsbeat 2013