Begg-Smith ties up moguls title with silver in Spain

AUSTRALIA'S Dale Begg-Smith tied up his fourth freestyle skiing moguls crystal globe, despite finishing second to French rival Guilbaut Colas at the World Cup finals in Sierra Nevada.

BACK ON TOP: Dale Begg-Smith scores his fourth moguls crystal globe with silver at the World Cup final in Sierra Nevada (Getty Images)

The 25-year old, who struck silver behind Canada's Alexandre Bilodeau at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver last month, carried a 72 point lead into the final event of the season in Spain.

But after qualifying with the third highest score of 23.97, there seemed little chance Begg-Smith wouldn't recapture the title he won for three consecutive seasons between 2006 and 2008.

And the Australian came through in style in the final, scoring an impressive 24.77 which was only beaten by Colas who scored 25.66 to pick up his third win of the season.

France's Pierre Ochs scored 24.14 to steal in for bronze - his second career World Cup medal.

Meanwhile, USA's Eliza Outtrim was a surprise winner of the women's moguls in Spain, scoring 24.38 to capture her first career World Cup gold.

Austria's Margarita Marbler scored 23.73 for silver while USA's Heather McPhie returned to the World Cup podium for the first time since Lake Placid in January to strike bronze.

Meanwhile, Great Britain's promising 18-year old Ellie Koyander finished 16th in Spain to bring the curtain down on her most successful season to date.

The promising 17-year old equalled her performance of two seasons ago to finish of 36th in the overall standings but scored a career-best 36 World Cup points.