Snowboard Cross strengthens hold on overall lead with dominant showing

Charlotte Bankes secured her third World Cup win of the season with victory at the Cortina d’Ampezzo Snowboard Cross World Cup this evening.

Having sailed through qualifying in top spot, Bankes was made to battle through the knock out rounds, coming from behind at every stage before surging through to take victory in a hotly contested Big Final against a triumvirate of French riders, with Lea Casta finishing second and Manon Petit Lenoir in third. Julia Pereira de Sousa, meanwhile, took fourth.

The gives Bankes a third consecutive World Cup victory, with only fourth place in the season’s opening race preventing a clean sweep of victories to date.

The 29-year-old now boasts an incredible ten individual World Cup podiums since the beginning of last season, cementing her reputation as one of Britain’s most consistently dominant athletes.

Speaking afterwards, Charlotte said:

“I’m really happy. It was super tight racing today but I managed to pull off a good start and I knew we had the speed at the bottom. The boards are running well and we’d worked out a good line, so it was just a case of trying to pull it off.

“I didn’t quite believe it was going to happen, but really happy with how it went today, a great team effort.

“We’re not even halfway through for our season yet, so it’s just keeping that focus race after race, keeping working hard, keeping it going, and hopefully that gives us that momentum.”