British snowboard cross racer Zoe Gillings has finished sixth in the latest World Cup race, her best result of the season.

She missed out on a place in the four-rider final but finished second in the small final at Bad Gastein in Austria.

American Lindsey Jacobellis scored her first win of the season, beating Norway's Helene Olafsen and Sandra Frei of Switzerland.

There are two more World Cup races before next month's Winter Olympics.

In the first two World Cup races Gillings, from the Isle of Man, finished 10th and 18th and was not happy with her performances.

But she was clearly delighted with her efforts in Austria saying: "I'm really happy with my starts as I have been practising these over the summer.

"I also beat the world number one (Maelle Ricker) who is one of the favourites for gold in Vancouver in February, so overall I'm really happy with the result."

Gillings represents a medal chance for Team GB in the Vancouver Games, which start on 12 February. The snowboard cross takes place on 16 February at Cypress Mountain.

In the overall standings, Ricker of Canada, who finished seventh, leads with 2,360 points. Jacobellis climbed to second place, trailing Ricker by 830 points. Dominique Maltais of Canada is third with 1,460.

Meanwhile in alpine skiing, Britain's Chemmy Alcott continued her decent form in the super-G, finishing joint 16th in the Haus World Cup. Lindsey Vonn of the United States won.

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