Australian Jenny Owens avoided a chaotic series of crashes in the final of the skier cross event at the X Games to snare a bronze medal in Aspen, Colorado.

It wasn’t quite Steven Bradbury-esque but the two-time Winter Olympian just managed to stay out of trouble in the rough and tumble event to sneak over the line 0.112 of a second in front of the fourth-placed Marielle Berger from France.

Norwegian Marte Gjefsen took out the event from countrywoman Hedda Bernsten.

Gjefsen’s victory was all the more remarkable given she had two casts on her arms because of a broken right wrist and torn left thumb ligament sustained in training but she was lucky to be positioned on the opposite side of the starting gate from Sanna Luedi who face-planted on the first terrain feature.

More drama was to come as Canadian leader Marielle Thompson wiped out on a bend, almost taking the chasing pack with her.

Former alpine skier Owens, a multiple World Cup medallist who struggled with injury and finished off the podium in the sport’s Games debut at Vancouver, lost her edges and hip-checked the slope but regathered to squeeze out Berger for third.

It was Australia’s second medal of the event, regarded in athlete circles as second only to the Winter Olympics in terms of prestige.

World champion Anna Segal also finished third, in the skier slopestyle, an event which has been added to the 2014 Winter Olympics program in Sochi, Russia.