Zoe Gillings came tenth in the opening Snowboard Cross World Cup of the 2009/2010 Olympic season in Chapelco, Argentina, at the weekend.

This was despite crashing into World No 1 Lindsey Jacobellis of the USA just after the start of the race.

She lined up against Jacobellis, Isobella Clark Rimero of Brazil and Japan's Yuki Fujimori in her heat and got off to a good start, tucking in behind the American in second place.

But Jacobellis made a mistake and took a tumble and despite managing to stay on her feet Zoe lost all her speed and could only go on to finish the heat in third place behind Rimero and Fujimori, effectively placing her 10th overall.

The next World Cup snowboard cross competition will now take place in Telluride, USA on December 20th.