In a competition brought foward by 24 hours due to concerns about tomorrow's weather, Woods, the 23-year-old who won a silver medal at the 2013 World Championships, showed his form with a huge performance in qualification before backing that up in the final.

Consisting of a a slide to 180 out, a switch left 270 to pretzel 270 out, a zero spin to ledge of the wall ride, a switch left 270 in pretzel 270 out, a switch on to cannon to blind 630 tail grab out, a left double-cork 1080 safety, a right double-cork 1260 tail grab, and a switch right double-cork 10 octo grab, his second run scored 93.40, the only plus 90 point score in the final.

“This is the first major big event of the season," he said.

"Everyone was here, I was reading the start list to my friends at dinner and it just sounded like the world rankings.

"There’s only a small handful of guys not here and they’re injured - so I was proud as can be just to be on that start list.”

Oystein Braaten from Norway saved his best for last, scoring 89.90 in his final round to move from fifth to second.

United States' Sochi Olympic gold medallist Joss Christensen claimed bronze, narrowly edging out local hero Jossi Wells, who had been second after qualifying but could only place fourth in the final. 

Christiansen, the 2013 Winter X Games champion, was almost as dominant as Woods in the women's competition, posting a score of 85.80.

She pushed Italy’s Silvia Bertagna down to silver medal position with 82.80 from her second run, leaving Lisa Zimmermann of Germany to repeat her bronze medal from Winter Games NZ 2013, scoring 79.20 on her first run.

“It was a bit scary with all the wind and I just tried to block it out [by] thinking that I’m the best in bad weather and it worked," said Christiansen. 

"It didn’t go very well the first two runs so I was bumped to fourth but I just felt the pressure and stomped my last run and it felt really good.

“It feels so good to be in New Zealand, it’s been two years since last time so I’m really happy right now.

"You’ll definitely see me back here, this is one of my favourite places.”

World Cup action is set to conclude at the Cardrona Alpine Resort on Sunday (August 30) with the male and female snowboard halfpipe finals.

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