Cross-Country World Cup athlete Gabriel Gledhill was sanctioned under the GB Snowsport disciplinary procedures for squad members following a breach of the athlete code of conduct which occurred at the Oslo Cross-Country World Cup last weekend.
Gabriel accepted that his conduct fell short of the standard expected of athletes representing the country, and has offered a full apology to his teammates and to the wider Nordic community, which the team and GB Snowsport have fully accepted. Under the terms of the disciplinary procedures, and taking into account Gabriel’s remorse, GB Snowsport confirms that Gabriel will race as planned in the final Cross-Country World Cup races of the season in Lake Placid.
We are grateful to Gabriel for his apology, and wish him the best of luck in Lake Placid.
PRyce and clugnet take on the cross country sprint classic
Anna Pryce delivered a historic performance at her first Winter Olympics, recording the best-ever British Women’s result in Olympic Cross Country skiing with a 32nd place in the Women’s Sprint Classic.
James Clugnet recorded a solid 45th place in the Men’s Cross Country Sprint Classic in his first race of the Games as he continues to build towards the next events of the Cross Country programme.
Moguls Qualification Update
In the first Moguls qualification run, Mateo Jeannesson made his Olympic debut putting down a 28th place finish, while Makayla Gerken Schofield secured 18th place.
Both athletes will return for the second qualification run as they look to secure their places in the final. The Women’s second qualifying run takes place on Wednesday 11th February while the Men’s second qualifying run will be held on Thursday 12th February.
MUSGRAVE OPENS HIS FIFTH OLYMPIC GAMES
Andrew Musgrave launched his fifth Olympic Games with an impressive top-10 finish in the men’s 10+10km Skiathlon.
The 35-year-old delivered a composed and powerful performance, clocking in a time of 47:00.5 in a fiercely contested field.
Musgrave’s 10th place finish marks his second-best Olympic result across his five Games, bettered only by his seventh place in the 30km Skiathlon at PyeongChang 2018, which is the best ever finish for a Team GB athlete in cross country skiing at an Olympic Winter Games.
Musgrave will be back in action on Tuesday 10 February, when he competes in the Sprint Classic as he continues his Olympic campaign.
DAVIES FINISHES TOP 20 IN OLYMPIC DEBUT
Joe Davies produced a standout performance on his Olympic debut, finishing 16th in the men’s 10+10km Skiathlon.
Davies crossed the line in a time of 47:35.9, just 35.4 seconds behind teammate Musgrave as he delivered a confident performance on the sport’s biggest stage.
He will also lineup for the Sprint Classic on Tuesday 10 February as he continues his Olympic journey.
BROOKES MAKES HISTORY AS SHE SOARS TO BIG AIR FINALS
Mia Brookes made history on her Olympic debut by becoming the first Team GB athlete to qualify for the women’s Snowboard Big Air finals at an Olympic Games.
The 19-year-old faced early pressure after failing to land her opening run, but she was able to deliver when it mattered most, putting down a Backside 1260 and Cab 1080 to post a combined score of 167.00, securing third place and a spot in tomorrow night’s finals.
The women’s Snowboard Big Air finals will take place on Monday 9 February at 18:30 GMT.
HILL SETS OLYMPIC STATUS IN STONE
Maisie Hill made her Olympic debut, alongside Brookes, in the women’s Snowboard Big Air, finishing 29th overall.
Hill attempted a frontside 1080, but a fall in her first two runs saw her miss out on a place in the finals.
While it was not the performance she had hoped for, Hill’s journey to the Olympic stage has been nothing short of remarkable, after suffering a catastrophic injury in 2023, resulting in a catalogue of life-threatening injuries.
The comeback continues next week as she drops in for Snowboard Slopestyle on Monday 16 February.
KIRSTY MUIR BECOMES THE FIRST GB SNOWSPORT ATHLETE OF THE MILAN-CORTINA GAMES 2026 TO QUALIFY FOR AN OLYMPIC FINAL
Kirsty Muir made an impressive start to her second Winter Olympic Games, qualifying for the Women’s Freeski Slopestyle finals in Livigno.
The 21-year-old qualified in third place behind China’s Eileen Gu and and the reigning Olympic champion, Matilde Gremaud of Switzerland.
Muir delivered a highly technical rail section, followed by a flawless jump line featuring a a switch misty 9, right double 10 and left cork 7, to score her 64.98 on her second run, which comfortably placed her among the top 12 athletes progressing to the final.
Muir will take to the course for a final time on Monday 9th February at 11:30 GMT, where she will look to build on her 4th place in Beijing 2022 Olympic Games.
Speaking afterwards, Muir said:
“This morning, I was quite good, I was quite focused, I was able to calm myself down a little bit, but I feel like my heart was maybe just racing a little bit more than usual. After I put my first run down, I felt a bit of a relief and felt like I could just be a bit smoother in myself. Just knowing I can do it when I’m feeling a little bit nervous, when I’m feeling a little bit of pressure, knowing that I can trust myself and put it down.”
Looking ahead to the final, she added:
“I’m stoked to make it through and I’m just going to give it everything. I’m not going to hold back. If I do that and I put a run down that I’d like to, I’ll be super proud of myself.”
CHRIS MCCORMICK SEALS OLYMPIC STATUS
Chris McCormick made his Olympic debut in the men’s Freeski Slopestyle, delivering a composed and technical performance to finish 26th overall.
The 24-year-old fought hard to showcase his skill set, opening his run with a demanding series of rails, followed by a switch right double 14 into a switch left double 12 on the jumps.
Whilst he was unable to put down the run he had planned, the performance marked an important milestone in his Olympic journey and cemented his status and as Olympian.
Attention now turns to the Freeski Big Air, where the Scotsman will look to build on his Olympic debut on Sunday 15th February.
ANNA PRYCE MAKES HISTORY ON OLYMPIC DEBUT
Anna Pryce made history for Team GB by becoming the first British athlete to compete in the women’s 10km + 10km Skiathlon at an Olympic Games.
The 24-year-old finished 42nd on her Olympic debut, completing the race in a time of 1:01:09.5 against a world-class field.
Her next event follows in a matter of days as she takes on the women’s Sprint Classic on Tuesday 10th February.
A jam-packed week saw success across multiple disciplines for GB Snowsport athletes
Neil Simpson goes four-from-four in Para Alpine
Neil Simpson delivered a series of standout performances at the Saalbach Para Alpine World Cup, taking four podiums from four races across Downhill and Super-G disciplines. A pair of DH bronze medals, guided by Andrew Simpson and by Rob Poth, and Super-G silver and bronze with Poth and Simpson respectively guiding made it a blue ribbon week for a discipline steeped in British Paralympic heritage.
Bankes’ brilliance to the fore in Snowboard Cross
Charlotte Bankes showed her world class standing in back-to-back World Cups in Dongbeiya, China, taking gold and bronze on consecutive days. A dominant performance in the weekend’s first race saw Bankes top the standings in qualifiers, quarters, semis, and finals, while the second day’s competition saw her grab bronze in a tightly-contested final races.
On the men’s side, Huw Nightingale continued to show his ability to mix it with the best in the world coming 17th in the weekend’s first contest after qualifying in 14th, while in the second of the weekend’s races, Max Vardy progressed to the knockout stages for the first time before finishing in 20th place.
Barnes-Miller bags silver in Kuehtai Para Snowboard World Cup
James Barnes-Miller grabbed a sensational silver medal in the Kuehtai Para Snowboard Banked Slalom World Cup alongside a seventh place finish in a typically competitive Men’s UL field. Barnes-Miller’s podium, his first of the World Cup season, came amid a week of strong Para Snowboard performances across the board, with Ollie Hill also taking a top-five finish, Nina Sparks twice finishing inside the top-ten, and Davy Zyw taking a brace of Europa Cup podiums with a silver and a bronze.
Taylor takes Telemark silver
Jaz Taylor‘s podium successes continued with a silver medal winning performance in the first of back-to-back Carezza World Cup races, and giving her a second podium of the season following her Sprint World Cup win in Pinzolo in December.
And the rest…
The Men’s Slalom team faced down battling conditions in the Lauberhorn slope in Wengen, with Luca Carrick-Smith the pick of the bunch, finishing 34th after the first run in a personal best World Cup showing. Billy Major and Laurie Taylor came in 41st and 42nd on the first run respectively, while Dave Ryding was a first run DNF with a straddle.
The Women’s night Slalom in Flachau saw Vici Palla record a first run DNF.
In Cross-Country, James Clugnet delivered the weekend’s best showing, finishing 32nd in Sprint Free qualifying to narrowly miss out on Finals, while in Moguls Makayla Gerken Schofield finished 26th in the individual women’s event in a race week impacted by poor weather conditions.
Largest ever British Tour de Ski squad makes history in Toblach and Val di Fiemme
British Cross-Country skiers made history over the New Year period with a series of outstanding performances delivering the strongest set of results ever recorded by a British team at this year’s Tour de Ski, including two British athletes in the top-20 of the event’s final standings.
The Tour began with the largest British contingent ever to start the Stage World Cup event, with James Clugnet, Joe Davies, Gabriel Gledhill, Andrew Musgrave, Anna Pryce, Tabitha Williams, and Andrew Young making up a seven-strong British team as the event got underway in Toblach.
The 5km F stage on New Year’s Eve delivered the best individual result of the Tour, with Clugnet’s fifth place finish marking the 29-year-old’s best ever individual World Cup result with a performance which saw him finish just 0.7s behind the stage winner, and only 0.1s off the podium, while five days later Davies also delivered his career best World Cup result with an astonishing sixth place finish in the 10km F Mass Start, in a stage which saw Musgrave finish eighth, marking a first ever occasion of two British athletes featuring in the top-10 of a Cross-Country World Cup race.
Musgrave and Davies’ combined results were sufficient to secure both a top-20 berth in the overall standings, finishing 15th and 16th respectively, leaving Britain one of only five nations – alongside Norway, Sweden, Italy, and France – to have multiple athletes finish inside the top-20.
Speaking after the Tour, Joe Davies said:
“To have the results we’ve had this Tour de Ski means so much to all of us. It’s not only a testament to the work we’ve put in, but also to the belief that British skiing belongs at the top. We’ll continue to build on these results and use them as fuel to even bigger things.”
Cross-Country Team Manager, Jostein Vinjerui said:
“This was a great way to end the Tour de Ski with two athletes in the top eight today, and Joe’s first top six finish in a World Cup field. I’m proud on the team’s behalf of having three different athletes feature in the top six of a World Cup event so far this season.
“We’re looking forward now to the Olympics, where our goal is to ensure we’re operating at at least the same level we’ve shown here.”
GB Snowsport Head Coach, Pat Sharples, added:
“This has been one of the strongest Tour de Ski events we’ve ever had from the British team, and getting this close to the Olympic Games it shows they’re coming into form at the right time.
“Andrew Musgrave has continued to show he’s one of the best athletes on the world stage, as he has been consistently for many years now, but seeing performances from James Clugnet with his fifth place in the 5km Free stage, along with today’s sixth place from Joe, is really exciting.
“The whole team are fully dedicated to their craft, and it’s brilliant to see the years of hard work paying off.”
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale hit gold, Atkin clinches Silver in China, and XC team impress in Davos
Bankes and Nightingale top Team standings in Cervinia
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale took Snowboard Cross World Cup victory on the season’s first week of SBX action with a sensational display of racing speed and tactics.
The 2023 Team SBX World Champions raced brilliantly throughout Sunday’s event, qualifying in second spot from the Quarter Final stage before victory in the Semi Final saw them through to a Big Final showdown against teams representing Italy, France, and Germany.
Sitting in third position after the men’s run, Bankes then dominated the women’s run to seal victory ahead of Italy in second and France in third.
In the individual competitions, Bankes marked her first appearance since sustaining a broken collarbone to take ninth spot, while in the Men’s contest, Nightingale finished 34th and Max Vardy took 37th on his World Cup debut.
Atkin wins Silver in Secret Garden
Zoe Atkin marked her first appearance of the season with silver in the Secret Garden Halfpipe World Cup. The reigning Halfpipe World Champion skied brilliantly in challenging conditions to lead the standings after the first run, before she was overhauled by China’s Eileen Gu by a margin of 1.50 points.
Earlier, the men’s competition saw Gus Kenworthy and Sam Gaskin finish 34th and 35th respectively, while Siddhartha Ullah came 30th in the Men’s Snowboard competition.
Clugnet and Musgrave headline strong showing for Cross-Country team in Davos
James Clugnet and Andrew Musgrave put in superb showings amid a strong team performance in Davos on the latest leg of the Cross-Country World Cup. Clugnet’s tenth place finish in the Men’s SP F was followed by sixth place for Musgrave in 10km F to give both athletes their best finish of the season so far. Earlier, the Team Sprint had seen both Clugnet and Andrew Young and Anna Pryce and Tabitha Williams finish in 17th, just outside of Finals, while Pryce was also on impressive form to take 35th in the Sprint Free, and Young 41st in the 10km F. Joe Davies, meanwhile, made his first appearance of the season taking an excellent 17th place in the 10km F.
Meenagh secures brace of Biathlon top-10s in Canmore
Scott Meenagh‘s first Para Biathlon World Cup showing of the season yielded a brace of top-10 finishes alongside an 11th place in the 12.5km Individual. The highlight came with a 5th place in the Sprint discipline which saw Meenagh in striking distance of a podium before a crash and damaged ski held back further progress, before following up with an 8th place in the Sprint Pursuit.
Two in top-30 in Men’s Val d’Isere Slalom
A challenging course delivered two top-30 finishes for the Men’s Alpine Slalom team, with Laurie Taylor finishing 12th and Billy Major 24th. With three Brits in the top-15 after the first run omens looked good for a strong showing, but course challenges saw a DNF for Dave Ryding while Taylor and Major both battled through to cement their top-30 standings.
Luca Carrick-Smith and Freddy Carrick-Smith both recorded first run DNFs in the Slalom and Giant Slalom respectively.
And the rest…
Ollie Davies was pick of the Brits in the Ski Cross Val Thorens World Cup finishing 21st in the second of the back-to-back World Cups, taking 46th in the first race. Scott Johns finished 53rd and 57th.
Fred Warburton and guide James Hannan were Britain’s only representatives in the Steinach Para Alpine World Cup, finishing 7th in Alpine Combined, 8th in the SG Speed Event, and 8th and 7th in back-to-back SG World Cups.
Britain’s Park & Pipe team shone on two of China’s biggest stages, while there was Cross-Country, Moguls, Para Nordic, and Alpine action in Europe and North America
Brits Shine on the Beijing Big Air Stage
Mia Brookes banked her fourth career World Cup victory with a masterclass performance in the Beijing Big Air World Cup to see off a strong field in the Chinese capital. Making her first competitive appearance of the season, Brookes breezed through qualifiers in top spot with a score of 173.73, before bringing out a backside-12 melon and a cab-14 stale in Finals to below away the competition, delivering a 30-point victory margin. In the Men’s competition, Txema Mazet-Brown qualified from heat one with a well-executed cab-12, before delivering a personal best World Cup result of seventh place in a strong showing against some of the world’s best Big Air riders.
In Freeski, Kirsty Muir showcased her grit and resilience, bouncing back from a heavy crash in the second run of Finals to take fourth place and a share of the yellow bib having earlier qualified in second position.
Tom Greenway earned his best World Cup result in the Men’s Freeski contest with an overall 17th place finish, stomping a double-12 tail and switch left double-18 stale to secure an excellent score of 153.00 in qualifiers.
Elsewhere in Women’s Snowboard, Katie Ormerod finished 30th after a run one knuckle led to a decision to pull out after the first run of competitions, while Maisie Hill was a DNS following a practice run crash and Chris McCormick was also a DNS in Men’s Freeski after a crash in practice.
Kenworthy returns to podium on first competition in four years
In Snow League Halfpipe, Gus Kenworthy made an astonishing return to competition after four years’ absence, delivering a third place finish and his first major podium since 2020 with a classic demonstration of Halfpipe skiing.
The 34-year-old, who announced his return to action earlier this year, rolled back the years to progress to the Semi Final stage of the new knockout format competition, before winning the third-place playoff after his opponent was forced to withdraw with injury.
Zoe Atkin, despite her best efforts, was unable to compete due to illness.
A weekend of breakthroughs and momentum for the Cross Country squad
The Cross Country squad delivered a solid set of results across Sprint Classic, 20km Skiathlon and 10km Interval Start Free in Trondheim. For the first time since 2019, Britain fielded a team across the men’s and women’s competition with World Cup debuts from Tabitha Williams and Anna Pryce.
In the 20km Skiathlon, Andrew Musgrave was in solid form as he came in 13th, with Gabriel Gledhill following behind crossing the line in 65th.
In the women’s Skiathlon, World Cup debutants Tabitha Willams and Anna Pryce put down a strong showing to return home with 51st and 55th place finishes.
The Sprint Classic saw Pryce and James Clugnet take 63rd and 65th place respectively.
Over in the 10km Interval Start Free, Williams and Pryce secured 57th and 68th positions while in the men’s race, Musgrave ended up in 53rd, Gledhill 68th and Clugnet 76th.
Meenagh gets season underway in Canmore
In the Para-Nordic 10km Mass Start Classic sitting classification, Scott Meenagh opened his World Cup campaign with a hard-earned 13th place in the Canadian resort of Canmore, with Britain’s most successful ever Para Nordic skier now set to take on three Para Biathlon World Cup competitions this week in the Sprint, Sprint Pursuit, and 12.5km Individual events.
Moguls athletes Kick-Off the season in Ruka
Makayla Gerken-Schofield got her World Cup season underway with battling 26th and 33rd place finishes on an incredibly gnarly course. whilst Mateo Jeannesson was a DNS as he and the team build a strategy to see him peak in the coming months of the season.
Hard-Fought Alpine Results on the Birds of Prey
Downhill action in Beaver Creek saw Roy-Alexander Steudle to 63rd place as he battled through a demanding set on a challenging track; while unsafe weather conditions saw the Super G race to be cancelled for Steudle as his start bib fell outside of the top 30.
Kirsty Muir makes history while British athletes open their World Cup seasons across Alpine, Cross-Country, and Para Snowboard
British success on the Park & Pipe scene
A historic moment for Kirsty Muir who secured Britain’s first ever Freeski Big Air World Cup victory in her first competition of the season. Muir put down a flawless left double-14 safety and a textbook right double-10 mute to post an insurmountable score of 174.50 to top the leaderboard in Secret Garden. Muir’s victory came having topped the standings after qualifiers and provides a crucial lift for the 21-year-old as she returns to Bejing, where she claimed second place in the 2023 Big Air World Cup contest.
Following the weather-affected cancellation in Stubai the previous week, Tom Greenway and Chris McCormick were back with a vengeance, each delivering some of their most technically demanding runs. Greenway stomped a switch left-18 stale for a score of 76.60 which put him into 23rd place and McCormick followed closely behind with a switch right dub-18 tail, bagging him 26th place with a score of 74.50.
On the snowboard side, Maisie Hill impressed with a huge frontside 1080, while Katie Ormerod put down a clean Cab-9 and backside-7. Txema Mazet-Brown, meanwhile, came narrowly short of landing his Cab triple-16 indy in qualifiers.
More podiums followed at the ‘Rock A Rail’ Europa Cup in Latvia as Ella Hall secured her first win in the women’s ski category, building on her third place in Innsbruck last week. Mia Langridge produced another standout performance and backed-up last week’s podium with another silver medal in the women’s snowboard category, with British athletes proving major contenders on the rail-jam circuit.
Double Para-Snowboard World Cup in Landgraaf
The Para Snowboard World Cup season kicked off with back-to-back Banked Slalom races in Langraaf. Ollie Hill delivered two excellent runs in the LL2 category, securing a pair of 5th place finishes with a best time of 38.22.
Matt Hamilton also produced consistent results in the UL category with two 14th place results, while Nina Sparks placed 11th on the first day of competition, before a DNF on day two.
Musgrave and Clugnet return to WC action in Ruka
Andrew Musgrave and James Clugnet both made a double appearance at the Cross-Country World Cup in Ruka for their first World Cup of the season. Musgrave opened with a 26th place in the Interval Start Classic before pushing into the top 20 in the 20km Mass Start Free. Clugnet delivered 42nd in the Mass Start Free and 49th in the Sprint Final Classic respectively.
Steudle continues return from injury in Copper Mountain
Roy Steudle also made his first World Cup appearance of the season over in Copper Mountain finishing 66th as he builds momentum ahead of his next start in Beaver Creek tomorrow.
Header image: Li Runsheng