Slopestyle World Cup: James Woods wins silver in New Zealand

British slopestyle skier James Woods won silver at the first World Cup of the season in New Zealand.

Woods, 21, led the competition until the last run before being overtaken by Nick Goepper, last season's number one slopestyle skier on the AFP World Tour.

Norway's Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen won the women's gold medal, while Briton Anna Vincenti and Switzerland's Eveline Bhend both pulled out.

Slopestyle will make its debut at next year's Winter Olympics in Russia.

"Not my best but I've just got to train harder," women's winner Christiansen said. "I put down two solid runs so I'm stoked."

Woods edged out Australia's Russ Henshaw to take the silver medal and Goepper said he was forced to change things up on his second run, adding another trick on the first jump, in order to beat the Briton.

"I'm just insanely happy to be here," said Goepper. "It's really, really surreal and I didn't even imagine this is how the day would go but I'm just happy to be down here in New Zealand.

"Today was ridiculous. You've got to be learning new tricks in your down time. It's so consistent; every guy out there is so smooth and so technical. It's tough."

Woods is the second British winter athlete to reach a World Cup podium already this season, after a snowboard slopestyle silver for Jenny Jones last week.