Johnstone edged out

NSWIS snowboarder Nate Johnstone has narrowly missed out on a world championship podium spot after finishing fifth at the 2012 TTR World Championships in Norway.

Johnstone totalled 85.8 points in the half-pipe event, just 1.1 points outside the bronze medallist from the USA, to finish fifth after competing four times in five days. Johnstone’s gruelling schedule was vastly different to that of Swiss winner Iouri Podladtchikov, who competed twice in five days due to TTR rules and seedings.

However, the fifth placing was Johnstone’s first hit out of the 2012 season, with coach Johnstone’s NSWIS coach Ben Alexander saying he "was really pleased with his result in such a high quality field, and that all of the off season fitness work that he did meant that he came through this pretty well physically.”