Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) snowboarders Nathan Johnstone and Holly Crawford have claimed silver in the men’s and women’s half pipe at the fourth event of the 2011 FIS Snowboard World Cup series in Calgary, Canada on 26 February. 

The 21-year-old Johnstone clinched silver with a score of 27.7 points. Japan’s Ryō Aono took first place with a huge backside 540 trick scoring 28.3 points. Crawford won her second silver in consecutive World Cup events with an impressive cab 360 trick. She finished 1.9 points behind China’s Cai Xuetong. 

Australian half pipe head coach Ben Alexander said that it was a close finish between first and second place and that a few things simply did not go the Australians’ way.

‘I suppose Holly and Nathan did not execute today quite as well as they can,’ Alexander said. ‘They both rode very strongly, there wasn’t anything major in particular but sometimes it happens.’

Crawford’s silver has improved her World Cup series ranking from eighth to second, with 800 points, 200 behind Cai. In the men’s series, Johnstone is also the highest ranked Australian, on 800 points. Japan’s Ryō Aono leads with 1000 points.

Johnstone and Crawford will compete in the fifth round of the World Cup series in Bardonecchia, Italy on 11 March.