Ben Kilner showed he is a serious contender in the Olympics by finishing third in the final FIS World Cup contest before the Games. The comp, which took place in Calgary on Saturday, saw Kill-dog beating the likes of Matthieu Crepel to claim the third podium spot – and the stetson that comes with getting on the podium in Canadian cowboy country!

Ben narrowly lost out to the young Frenchman Arthur Longo, who like Ben, was enjoying his first ever FIS World Cup podium place. Second went to the local hero and veteran competitor Justin Lamoureux. Interestingly, although Ben and Justin have booked their spots at the Vancouver Games already, Longo’s place is far from assured. Arthur said: “Maybe I made it with this result”.

In the women’s competition, the Chinese ladies once again dominated, with Zhifeng Sun and Xuetong Cai beating Australia’s Holly Crawford into third place. But the result that really matters to us in the UK was of course Kilner’s. Not only does it mark the highpoint of what’s been a great season so far, but it will hopefully give the young Scot a big boost going into the games.

All-in-all, this has been a great weekend for British snowboarding, what with Jenny winning her second X-Games Gold and Ben’s high-scoring finish in Calgary.