Australian Cam Bolton has been robbed of a breakthrough World Cup win after receiving a push in the back by a competitor on the final jump at the season-opening snowboard cross World Cup event in Austria.
Bolton was set to claim gold in Montafon, leading a stacked final as he came up to the last terrain feature where he fell.
But replays clearly showed the outstretched hand of competitor Alessandro Haemmerle pushing into Bolton's back and rib area, the 25-year-old tumbling over to finish last in the four-man final.
Haemmerle crossed the line first and celebrated like there was no tomorrow while his Austrian teammate Markus Schairer came in second.
Russian Nikolay Olyunin was third.
Bolton played down the incident on social media after the event.
"I led the final until the last jump where I made a mistake while hunting for speed," he said on Twitter.
While there is room to lodge a protest in snowboard cross, the rough and tumble nature of the sport - which pits riders against each other on a narrow, high speed course with jumps and banked turns - often means competitors are reluctant to do so.
Olympic Winter Institute boss Geoff Lipshut called on the sport's governing body FIS to tighten up their regulations to ensure competitors aren't robbed of results.
"The way FIS control the sport, they don't call anything, ever," he said.
"But this was very disappointing and I don't know how they (judges) missed it."
"The nature of the sport means the guys aren't going to complain about their opposition ... but FIS needs to tighten up (the rules)."
Still, it was a best ever result for Bolton who often races in the shadow of friend and compatriot Alex Pullin, a two-time world champion.
Four Australian men had started the event with Jarryd Hughes and Matthew Thomas failing to progress past the first round of head-to-head racing.
Pullin finished third in his second race and progressed no further, ending the day in ninth.
In the women's event Belle Brockhoff narrowly missed out on progressing all the way to the decider but won the consolation final for a solid finish of fifth overall.
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