Alpine trailblazer, Charlie Guest, announces retirement after 11 years on World Cup circuit

Charlie Guest has announced her retirement from Alpine skiing following the conclusion of the 2023/24 season. Charlie, who competed at her first World Cup in 2013 went on to represent Team GB at two Olympic Winter Games, and was part of the British team that finished fifth in Team Parallel in 2018 in PyeongChang.

One of the most influential British skiers of her generation, Charlie scored six World Cup top-20 finishes, including a 13th place in the Schladming Slalom World Cup in January 2022, part of a sequence of three top-20 World Cup finishes in January 2022.

In 2019, Charlie became the first British woman to ever win an Alpine Europa Cup race with victory at the Folgaria EC, and went on to record two more EC victories in Hasliberg in January 2020 and Reiteralm in March 2021. As recently as this season, Charlie was still delivering EC podiums with third place in Zell am See in January and second position in Malbun in February.

Speaking after news of Charlie’s retirement, GB Snowsport Alpine Discipline Committee Chair, Juliet Foster, said:

“Charlie has been one of the most influential British skiers of her generation, and her presence at the highest levels of Alpine skiing for more than a decade speaks for itself. As part of the Parallel team that made history for Britain at the PyeongChang Games, Charlie has created a lasting legacy in British Alpine skiing.

“It’s going to be really strange seeing a Women’s Slalom World Cup line-up without Charlie at the heart of the action, but her impact on Britain’s place in the sport will be an enduring one.”

Charlie Guest Career Highlights:

  • February 2009 – Represents Britain at European Youth Olympic Festival in Szczyrk, competing in Slalom and Giant Slalom
  • March 2012 – Wins British National Junior Championships Downhill race in Meribel
  • January 2013 – Makes World Cup debut in Flachau Slalom
  • March 2013 – Takes victory in two National Junior Championships (Super-G, Slalom) and one National Championships (Super Combined) race in Meribel
  • February 2015 – Makes World Championships debut in Vail / Beaver Creek, competing in Slalom and Giant Slalom
  • February 2018 – Selected to represent Team GB at PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, competing in Slalom and Team Parallel
  • March 2019 – Wins Folgaria Slalom EC, becoming first British woman to ever win an Alpine EC event
  • December 2019 – Records first World Cup top-30 with 29th place in St. Moritz Parallel Slalom World Cup
  • January 2022 – Achieves career high individual World Cup result with 13th place in Schladming Slalom World Cup
  • February 2022 – Competes in second Olympic Winter Games in Beijing finishing in 21st place in Slalom
  • February 2024 – Takes final EC podium with second place in Malbun Slalom EC

Charlotte Bankes was in flying form in Sierra Nevada, while in Aspen, USA, the Men’s Slalom team made history

Bankes seals dual podiums in Sierra Nevada SBX

Charlotte Bankes was back to her dominant best at the Sierra Nevada Snowboard Cross World Cup, with Gold and Bronze medal performances over the weekend’s back-to-back races.

Coming into the weekend fresh from victory at the Gudauri World Cup last month, Bankes was sensational in Saturday’s races, cruising through amid difficult conditions to secure her second solo victory of the season. Having looked set fair for a repeat performance in Sunday’s second World Cup, Bankes found herself in a close battle with Chloe Trespeuch of France during the Big Final, which saw both riders fall while contesting first spot, with Bankes getting back up to seal Bronze.

The results push Bankes up to fourth in the overall standings after a difficult first half of the season, closing in on Australia’s Josie Baff in third spot.

Ryding and Taylor make British Slalom History

The Aspen Slalom World Cup saw Dave Ryding and Laurie Taylor make British Slalom history, as two British skiers finished in the top-10 in a Slalom World Cup race for the first time ever. Amid a weekend of heavy snowfall, which saw the race start time pushed back following blizzard conditions the night before, both delivered a superb display of Slalom racing, with Taylor smashing his previous personal best to take an astonishing eighth place finish.

Ryding, coming into the second run from fifth spot, ended up taking seventh for his fourth top-10 finish of the season and the 29th of his career, while Taylor delivered a second run for the ages, the fastest among the field, to pull himself up from 19th spot at the turn.

The result makes it the first time Britain has had two skiers in an Alpine World Cup top-10 since Gina Hawthorn and Divina Galica finished in the top-10 in March and April 1968 at the Aspen and Heavenly Valley GS World Cups.

Musgrave in top-10 and Young & Clugnet top-10 at successful Levi World Cup

Andrew Musgrave added another top-10 finish to his impressive 2023/24 season with eighth place at the Levi World Cup 20km C. The result, Musgrave’s eighth top-10 of the season, puts the 33-year-old at fifth in the overall season Distance race rankings and continues an impressive year, which also saw him take the fourth World Cup podium of his career.

In the Team Sprint, Andrew Young and James Clugnet finished in a credible 19th spot adding to their impressive body of Team Sprint performances in recent years.

Zoe Atkin and Jaz Taylor take podiums; Cross-Country Team seal dual top-10s

Atkin takes dual podiums at Calgary Snow Rodeo

Zoe Atkin made it a perfect podium season at the Calgary Snow Rodeo double header World Cup, with Silver and Bronze medal performances on the Women’s Freeski Halfpipe.

Coming into the 2023/24 season with three World Cup podiums under her belt, Atkin showed astonishing form across the 2023/24 season to more than double her career World Cup podium count, taking three third place finishes before rounding out with second place in the final of the season’s Halfpipe World Cup contests. With a second place from X Games Aspen already under her belt, the performances have marked out Atkin as one of Britain’s most consistently exciting performers.

The results left the 21-year-old third in the overall standings and with a growing reputation as one to watch as the clock ticks inexorably towards Milan-Cortina 2026.

Cross-Country Squad take top-10s in Minneapolis

The Minneapolis Cross-Country World Cup saw a season’s best performance from James Clugnet with eighth spot in the Sprint Free race. In his first solo top-10 since December 2022, Clugnet looked in excellent form coming through just outside of qualification for the Final, with a Semi-Final time of 2:56.63.

The 10km Free saw Andrew Musgrave take his seventh top-10 spot of the season with a ninth place finish, hot off the back of seventh place at the previous weekend’s Canmore World Cup in the 20km C Mass Start. Also in the 10km F, Joe Davies grabbed a first top-20 career World Cup placing with 16th spot, making him the youngest finisher inside the top-20.

Taylor secures seventh podium of season in Al

Jaz Taylor took a seventh World Cup podium of a remarkable season with third place in the Parallel Sprint World Cup in Al, Norway. In a weekend with a mammoth four World Cup competitions, Taylor’s run of fourth, third, seventh, and eighth made it a scarcely believable ten top-10 finishes in eleven World Cup races, leaving her atop the standings in the overall Telemark World Cup rankings, ahead of Norway’s Goril Strom Eriksen and France’s Laly Chaucheprat.

BCST do country proud in 2024 International Races

The British Children’s Ski Team delivered some outstanding results across the 2024 International Race calendar, delivering five podiums and a further eight top-10s amid a series of remarkable performances.

At the Trofeu Borrufa Races in Andorra, Brooke Baxter (U16 W) and Harrison Adkins (U16 M) both took a pair of Slalom podiums, with Baxter finishing second and third as well as fifth in GS, with Adkins third twice.

Louisa McIntosh (U16 W) finished just behind Baxter in the second of the U16 W Slalom races, coming in fourth position, Lucas Cross (U14 M) secured an excellent top-10 in GS, while Audrey Curtis (U14 W) was in the top-10 twice with seventh in Slalom and sixth in GS.

The Skiinterkirterium races in Czechia delivered a podium for Isabella Sullivan (U16 W) in Slalom, while Edward Lloyd (U14 M – tenth, GS), Jessica Freear (U14 W – eighth GS, seventh SL), Sam Kingsley (U16 M – tenth SL), Alexander Thomas (U14 M – eighth SL), Amelia Pietrzak (U16 W – fifth SL), Alice Bond (U16 W – seventh SL) and Gracie Duncan (U14 W – sixth SL) all secured superb top-10 placings.

Finally, at the highly contested Alpecimbra races in Folgaria, Italy, British athletes secured five top-20 finishes through Sebastien Anthony (U14 M – 15th GS), Lily Flitton (U14 W – 19th GS, 13th SL), and Hamish Blyth (U16 M – 11th SL, 15th GS).

Huge congratulations to every member of the BCST for some exceptional performances, representing the future of British Alpine Skiing in the best possible light.

Invitation published for British season-closer

Entries for the GB Alpine Championships and British U14 and U16 Alpine Championships are now open, with the provisional race programme and invitations published this week.

Opening with the arrival of competitors on 23 March, the National Championships and National Junior Championships will take place across Tignes and Val d’Isere from 24-31 March, while the U14 and U16 Championships will take place exclusively in Tignes between 1-5 April.

All information on the provisional Race Calendar and the Race Entry system can be found at the GB Alpine Championships hub on the GB Snowsport website.

The Championships this year are being generously supported by Minerva Virtual Academy.

16-year-old adds Slalom gold to Giant Slalom silver and Combined Gold

Zak Carrick-Smith continued to rewrite the history books in Gangwon with a record-breaking third medal as he took Gold in the Men’s Slalom event.

Having won Britain’s first ever Alpine medal at an Olympic event with Gold in the Alpine Combined, Carrick-Smith went on to add Silver in Giant Slalom before his victory in this morning’s Slalom contest.

In third position at the end of the first run, Carrick-Smith delivered a blistering second run to take victory by a margin of 0.05s from Sweden’s Elliot Westlund, with France’s Nash Huot-Marchand in bronze.

Elsewhere at the Games, Molly Butler secured Britain’s best result in women’s Alpine in 50 years at an Olympic event with tenth place in the women’s Giant Slalom alongside 12th spot in Slalom, and 16th in Alpine Combined. Axel Rose Green and Jake Dade secured the best ever British result in Mixed Ski Cross with sixth place, and Teiva Hamaini finished 14th in Freestyle Snowboard Slopestyle.

British Alpine history was made on the slopes of Kitzbuehel and Gangwon on a superb weekend of British snowsport action

Kitzbuehel sees three in top-20

All three members of the Men’s Slalom team finished inside the top-20 at the Kitzbuehel Slalom, marking the first time in modern history that Britain has delivered three top-20 finishes at an Alpine World Cup.

Billy Major roared out of the first run to finish in joint-10th spot alongside teammate Dave Ryding at the end of the first run, while Laurie Taylor showed superb grit to see out tricky conditions and qualify for the second run in 29th spot.

From there, with five skiers failing to finish the second run, Dave Ryding delivered his now typical second run brilliance with the second fastest second run of the day to catapult himself to the top of the standings, before being overhauled in the latter stages of the race for an eventual fifth place finish. Taylor landed the seventh best second run of the day to bring himself a 19th place finish and a person best, while Major also secured a World Cup personal best with 13th spot, less than 0.3s outside of the top-10.

Elsewhere on the Alpine World Cup circuit, Charlie Guest finished just outside of the top-30 at the Jasna Slalom World Cup, missing out on the second run by hundredths of a second.

Carrick-Smith takes Gold in Gangwon

Zak Carrick-Smith delivered a sensational performance in Team GB colours at the Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon to take Britain’s first ever Alpine gold medal in an Olympic competition, with victory in the Alpine Combined.

Find out more about Carrick-Smith’s history-making victory here.

Taylor goes four-from-four in stunning Telemark SPrint run

Jaz Taylor’s sensational World Cup season rolled on with back-to-back victories in the Carezza Dolomites Telemark Sprint World Cup, leaving her with four victories from four World Cup races this season, and a firm grasp on top spot in the overall rankings.

The wins, the 10th and 11th of Taylor’s career, mean she has now equalled the best season of her career which saw her take four victories across the 2017/18 season, just four races into the season.

Makayla Gerken Schofield, Maisie Hill, and Katie Ormerod make injury comebacks

Moguls skier Makayla Gerken Schofield, and Freestyle Snowboarders Maisie Hill and Katie Ormerod all made their World Cup comebacks this week after significant injury lay-offs. Hill and Ormerod were both back in action at the Laax Freestyle Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup finishing in 15th and 12th spots respectively, while Gerken Schofield marked their return with a 19th place finish at the Val St. Come Moguls World Cup.

Elsewhere in Laax, Mia Brookes cruised through to Finals in the Freestyle Snowboard Slopestyle competition before finishing eighth, while Matty Cox marked his first World Cup in British colours with a 36th place finish in the Men’s Freestyle Snowboard Slopestyle contest. Siddhartha Ullah’s sixth World Cup appearance finished with a 38th place in the Men’s Halfpipe.

In Freeski, Ash Clayton was the pick of the bunch taking tenth place in the Women’s Freeski Slopestyle in only their second World Cup appearance.

In Moguls, Mateo Jeannesson came 33rd in Moguls and 17th in Dual Moguls in the first World Cup of 2024, with the latter marking the best Dual Moguls result of his World Cup career to date.

Davies takes 16th in Nakisaka

Ollie Davies’ World Cup season took off with an excellent 16th place finish in the Nakisaka Ski Cross World Cup. In a difficult season, Davies showed serious grit and application to make it through to the Quarter Final stage, and the best result of his season to date.

Andrew Musgrave returns from illness in Oberhot

Andrew Musgrave returned from the bout of illness that put paid to his Tour de Ski endeavours, finishing just outside the Top-20 at the Oberhof 20km C Mass Start World Cup. A 21st place finish there along with a run out in the Sprint C event marked his first appearance of the year, having had to drop out of the 2023/24 Tour de Ski after the 10km C on 31 December.

16-year-old’s Alpine Combined medal gives Britain a first-ever Alpine Gold at Olympic event

Zak Carrick-Smith made British Alpine skiing history as he took Gold in the Men’s Alpine Combined event at the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games. Sitting in 27th spot after the Super-G leg, 16-year-old Carrick-Smith delivered a staggering Slalom run including the fastest first sector in the entire field to take victory and, in doing so, deliver Britain’s first ever Gold medal in an Olympic Alpine event.

The youngster, whose only previous official race victory came in the Hochkrimml National Junior Slalom in December, was one of only three 2007-born skiers to feature in the top-10 in Gangwon, and sealed victory by a margin of 0.13s from Alexander Ax Swartz and and 0.84s Liam Liljenborg, both of Sweden, in second and third respectively.

Speaking afterwards, Zak said:

“It’s absolutely unbelievable. I was overwhelmed knowing I was on the podium, and then I went into first – I had to get people to double check, because I just couldn’t believe it. It still hasn’t quite sunk in, and to be the first British person in an Olympics to get an Alpine gold…I’m just over the moon!”

Strong British team set to compete in venues around Portes du Soleil

GB Snowsport are delighted to confirm the selection of 12 athletes to represent Britain at the 2024 World Junior Alpine Championships beginning later this month.

Held at five resorts across Portes du Soleil between 27 January and 3 February, the Championships will feature British representation across Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super-G, and Downhill events, while the team will also seek to qualify a spot for the Mixed Team Event and additionally enter teams into the Team Alpine Combined event.

As well as the 12 athletes set to compete for Britain, a further three, Luca Carrick-Smith, Zak Carrick-Smith, and Molly Butler, were selected but unable to attend.

Full Championships Selections:

  • Honor Bartlett
  • Elliott Bennett
  • Freddy Carrick-Smith
  • Alexa Elliff
  • Lucas Ellis
  • Giselle Gorringe
  • Olivia Howeson
  • Jack Irving
  • Toby Jennings
  • Max Laughland
  • Dominic Shackleton
  • Isla Ward

GB Snowsport offer warm congratulations to all the athletes selected, and wish all twelve competitors good luck in the coming Championships races.

30 young athletes selected for forthcoming Children’s Races

Following the Selection Meeting held on 11 January 2024, GB Snowsport is delighted to announce the U16 and U14 athletes who have been selected to race in the International Children’s Races as part of the British Children’s Ski Team for the 2023-24 season.

These athletes were selected in accordance with the criteria outlined in the current GB Snowsport Selection Policy and as amended by the announcement dated 19 October which was posted on the GB Snowsport website.

U16 Boys

  • Adam Orzel
  • Calum Hunter
  • Hamish Blyth
  • Harrison Adkins
  • Oscar Flight
  • Owen Young
  • Ryan Faber
  • Sam Kingsley

U16 Girls

  • Alice Bond
  • Alice Whitmore
  • Allegra Turton
  • Amelia Pietrzak
  • Brooke Baxter
  • Harriet McLaughlin
  • Isabella Sullivan
  • Louisa McIntosh
  • Lucy Howeson
  • Victoria Meneghetti

U14 Boys

  • Alexander Thomas
  • Edward Lloyd
  • Lucas Cross
  • Patrick Wilkinson
  • Sebastien Anthony
  • Xavier Poynton

U14 Girls

  • Audrey Curtis
  • Emma-Josephine Martineau-Fortin
  • Evienne Arnold
  • Darcy Davies
  • Gracie Duncan
  • Lilly Flitton

Everyone at GB Snowsport would like to wish all athletes selected good luck in the upcoming International Children’s Races.

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