China's Cai claims halfpipe gold at FIS Snowboard World Cup

China's Cai Xuetong triumphed in the ladies' halfpipe final of the FIS Snowboard World Cup in Mammoth Mountain, U.S. state of California. 

The 25-year-old, who was leading the women's World Cup standings before the event, was eyeing to make history this season by winning her fifth World Cup title to become the all-time leader in this category.

Continuing her golden run, the Chinese athlete demonstrated her power in the first round as she registered absolute dominance by scoring 89.25 points. Cai, who finished second in Calgary, Canada, last month, was seeking to go a step further in California. But a big mistake in the second round made her only get 6.75 points, but that was still enough for her to bag the title, thanks to her first round advantage. 

Meanwhile, at the IBSF World Championships in Whistler, China's Geng Wenqiang was ranked 12th after the first two rounds. He updated his personal best in the third round with 52.51 seconds. However, Geng made a mistake in the final round and that eventually dropped him to the 17th place with a total time of 3 minutes and 31.37 seconds. 

His fellow Chinese in the race, Yan Wengang, finished 20th in 3 minutes and 32.06 seconds while making his Championships debut. The event also saw Latvian veteran Martins Dukurs winning his sixth World Championships title in 3 minutes and 28.11 seconds. 

(CGTN)