Snowboarding: Zoe Gillings fifth in World Cup opener

Britain's number one snowboarder Zoe Gillings is "full of confidence" after finishing fifth in the opening World Cup event of the season in Austria.

The 27-year-old from the Isle of Man narrowly missed out on a place in the final four after what she described as a "silly mistake" in her semi-final.

She then gathered herself to win the fifth to eighth 'small final', beating world number four Alexandra Jekova.

Canadian Dominique Maltais won the event from Italian Raffaela Brutto.

Afterwards, Gilllings said: "I made a silly mistake in the semi-final which meant I could only race for positions five to eight.

"I am really disappointed with that but overall qualifying in fourth and finishing fifth in the first World Cup gives me a lot of confidence at the start of the season."

The Manx snowboarder said she was clearly benefitting from her re-instated funding from UK Sport, having qualified fourth out of 35 competitors.

She added: "I would like to say a huge thank you to my federation - British Ski and Snowboard (BSS) and UK Sport without whom I simply wouldn't be in this position.

"I know first hand the amount of hard work which everyone at the BSS has put in, from the office to the CEO. It's not easy but I really appreciate every bit of it, thank you."

The second round of the World Cup season will be held in Telluride, Colorado on Friday.