Pair of top tens for Barnes-Miller at Para Snowboard World Cup

Great Britain’s James Barnes-Miller enjoyed a pair of top ten finishes in the first World Para Snowboard Cross World Cup races of the season in Pyha.

The 29-year-old, who came seventh in the snowboard cross SB-UL at PyeongChang 2018, finished sixth in the Upper Limb 1 and Upper Limb 2 as he led the charge for the Brits in Finland.

Having already recorded fourth and seventh place finishes in banked slalom World Cup races last month, it was another solid performance from Barnes-Miller to kick off the season.

The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympic snowboarder was ranked sixth after the seeding runs and won through to the quarter-finals before bowing out to finish sixth overall.

In the Upper Limb 1 event, Barnes-Miller finished his first qualifying run in 40.49, 1.47 seconds behind Austrian Patrick Mayrhofer – PyeongChang banked slalom silver medallist.

His second qualifying run was quicker at 40.14, but his ranking remained sixth as American Paralympic banked slalom champion Mike Minor topped the rankings with 38.12.

Barnes-Miller defeated Masataka Oiwane of Japan in the round of eight, before Italian Jacopo Luchini got the better of him in his quarter-final race-off.

The event was ultimately won by Minor after he edged out Australian Simon Patmore, PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic men’s snowboard cross SB-UL gold medallist, in the final.

In the Upper Limb 2 category, Barnes-Miller was ranked tenth after the first qualifying run, before moving up to sixth after improving his time from 43.45 to 39.47 in his second run.

He once again progressed through the round of eight by beating Finland’s Matti Sairanen, but another Italian stood in his way in the quarter-finals as Manuel Pozzerle knocked him out.

Patmore made up for his defeat in the other final by claiming victory in his second event, defeating Italian Luchini to triumph as Mayrhofer took the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, fellow Brit Andy MacLeod (lower limb 2) finished eighth in his first snowboard cross race at this level, having recently earned a top ten in his World Cup debut in banked slalom.

Sportsbeat 2018