Zoe Gillings narrowly misses out on World Cup podium

Gillings has been invited to compete at the X-Games in February

British number one Zoe Gillings finished fourth at the third round of the boarder-cross World Cup in Switzerland on Sunday.

The Isle of Man snowboarder narrowly missed out on her first podium of the season after finishing centimetres behind Bulgarian Alexandra Jekova.

American Lindsey Jacobellis made it three wins out of three with Canadian Dominique Maltais second.

"It went really well and I am very very happy with the result," said Gillings.

The Manx snowboarder qualified fourth quickest out of 28 competitors before qualifying for the final with second place finishes in her quarter and semi-finals.

Despite a poor start in the final Gillings got stronger throughout the run and narrowly missed out on a top-three place.

"It was so close and I am not disappointed, fourth is a great result for me.

"I was really confident going into the competition after last week's seventh place and it showed in my performances. To beat the Olympic gold medallist (Maelle Ricker) was pretty good."

The Manx snowboarder is now ranked 7th in the world after the first three rounds and is less than 100 points behind fifth ranked French snowboarder Deborah Anthonioz, the 2010 Olympic silver medallist from Vanvcouver.

Following the next two World Cup rounds, Gillings will travel to Aspen, Colorado in the United States to compete in the boarder-cross event at the X-Games.