Sports Illustrated tip Kiwi Christy Prior to win gold at Winter Olympics. The only problem? She didn't qualify

Unlucky Kiwi snowboarder Christy Prior. Photo / Getty

Respected United States publication Sports Illustrated have come out with their predictions for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games - and they are tipping New Zealand to claim their first ever gold medal.

The only problem? The athlete they have tipped for gold - snowboarder Christy Prior - did not qualify for the Olympics. Whoops!

That seems like a tricky obstacle to overcome in the quest for gold, with Prior's missed qualification clearly going unnoticed by the popular magazine.

Prior spent 18 months on the sidelines after a knee injury, meaning her Olympic qualification campaign started late, but she had some promising results, including winning gold in the women's slopestyle at last month's world cup event in the USA.

Despite the late start, Prior still looked on course for a spot at the Pyeongchang Games, needing a top 15 finish in Switzerland's Laax Open last month to meet the selection criteria.

However, she was extremely unfortunate, with the event being snowed out, and Prior missing what would have been a likely qualification berth.

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A post shared by 🦋 Christy Prior 🦋 (@christyprior)

That continued a rough run of bad luck for Prior, who came into the 2014 Sochi games ranked third in the world in slopestyle, but crashed out during practice before her semifinal run, suffering a concussion and broken ribs.

In 2018, there will be no chance of redemption in Pyeongchang for the unfortunate Prior, though at least she can sit safe in the knowledge that she would have won gold in Sports Illustrated's personal record book had she attended.

Unfortunately for New Zealand's chances, Sports Illustrated does not have another New Zealander claiming a medal amongst their clearly very thorough analysis of all 102 events.

With New Zealand having won just one Winter Olympic medal (Annelise Coberger's silver in 1992) hopes are high for another athlete to join that exclusive club - but it certainly won't be the unfortunate Prior.

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