Arosa, Switzerland – Australian snowboarder and current World Champion Nathan Jonhstone finished fifth in the men’s halfpipe contest at the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup Tour in Arosa, Switzerland on Saturday, enough to capture the prestigious Crystal Globe in men’s halfpipe, as well as the overall freestyle Crystal Globe. In women’s action, Chinese rider Xuetong Cai also won both the halfpipe and overall freestyle titles.nIn Saturday’s last contest of the season, the Swiss riders swept the men’s podium on their home soil. Iouri Podladtchikov won with a score of 27.6 points. Jan Scherrer finished second (27.2), followed by Patrick Burgener in third (26.9). Johnstone, who ended the day in fifth, earned the second small Crystal Globe for Australia within 48 hours plus its first ever big Crystal Globe after his closest competitor, Japan’s Ryo Aono, didn’t enter Saturday’s competition.

“It would have been nice if Ryo (Aono) came but it was still a good competition here. Everyone rode really well. I’m super happy that I won the Globe and stoked that the season is over,” said Johnstone, 21, the reigning World Champion. Despite huge amplitude and air time, Johnstone wasn’t able to break into the 1-2-3 finish of his Swiss competitors.

Entering the last World Cup event of 2011, Cai had a solid lead over the women’s field that proved insurmountable to pass for the women’s World Champion, Holly Crawford of Australia.

Spanish rider Queralt Castellet rode to the first place in the contest with a performance worth 27.0 points. Crawford took the second place (25.5), followed by Cai in third (24.7).