Newcastle snowboarder Michaela Davis-Meehan nailed a "rockstar" run to claim the second win of her career, but narrowly missed the Freeride World Tour (FWT) finals for 2023.
Needing victory to have any chance of surviving the mid-season cut, wildcard Davis-Meehan delivered at Canada's Kicking Horse event on Saturday (AEDT).
Her third-round success, highlighted by back-to-back airs in a steep and exposed section of the course, scored 10,000 points and rocketed her up the rankings but just shy of the top three.
"It was amazing. The snow was so good. I had a backup run that I was going to do, but I blew that one off - I wanted the rockstar run, and I am glad I did it," Davis-Meehan told FWT media.
The 31-year-old Novocastrian finished fourth on the overall leaderboard (14,095 points), only 305 behind Anna Orlova and Estelle Rizzolio (14,400) in equal second.
Rizzolio and Orlova rounded out the women's snowboard podium in Canada over the weekend, second (8000) and third (6400) respectively, to keep Davis-Meehan at bay.
The top three, including leader Katie Anderson (20,000), now advance to the title-deciding rounds in Austria and Switzerland next month while also earning automatic qualification for the FWT in 2024.
Totals are calculated from a competitor's best-two results.
Davis-Meehan was fifth (4095) in Spain's season opener and sixth (3275) in Andorra earlier this month.
Her spot on this year's FWT came via a wildcard.
Davis-Meehan's maiden career win was recorded in Andorra in 2020, during her rookie season.
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