Australian snowboarder Emanuel Oppliger has ridden to a career-best 11th place in a parallel giant slalom World Cup in Le Relais, Canada, with team-mate Johanna Shaw also producing a personal best 19th in the women's event.

Oppliger's previous best World Cup placing was a 34th in the season's opening event in Soelden, Austria, and prior to this season he has not been under 40 in parallel giant slalom.

The performance gives him the second of three top 60 per cent of field results he needs to meet the Australian Olympic Committee's qualification criteria for the Torino 2006 team.

Riding to the first top 20 result of her career, Jo Shaw also collected the second of the three top 60s she needs for a place at the Games.

Thirty-year-old Oppliger, who was born in Coffs Harbour but is now based in Switzerland, was heading out of the event after the first of the two qualification runs, lying in 28th place.

But he put down the 12th best time in the second run to lift his placing to 13th overall and sneak into the 16-man finals rounds.

In the first round of the head to head finals he came up against 2001 world champion Giles Jacquet of France, and though he won the first run, he was out-gunned in the second, losing overall.

Jacquet went on to take the bronze medal, the gold going to Philip Schoch of Switzerland, pushing him to the top of the World Cup standings.

Shaw produced her best in the first run of the qualifying round, finishing equal tenth place with 2004 overall World Cup champion Julie Pomagalski of France.

She couldn't match that performance in the second run, slipping back to 19th overall, three places out of the head to head finals rounds.

Le Relais will host another parallel giant slalom Monday morning AEST.

Olympic Winter Institute