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.
Two Junior and Six U23 athletes named for Planica Championships
We are pleased to announce the names of the eight athletes selected to compete for Britain at the 2024 Nordic World Junior Championships. Hosted in Planica and running from 5 to 11 February, the Championships will see British athletes compete in three categories in both the Junior Championships and U23 Championships.
The first British representation will come on day one of the Championships with the Junior Sprint Free races, while the last British interest will be the U23 10km Individual C on Saturday 10 February.
In addition to those travelling to compete, Elspeth Cruickshank, Thomas Duncan, Sophie Forth, and Sophia Wilson met the qualifying criteria but have elected not to travel for this year’s Championships.
Full Squad Selections:
Junior
- Logan Duncan (1.2km Sprint F, 20km Mass Start F, 10km Interval Start C)
- Tabitha Williams (1.2km Sprint F, 20km Mass Start F, 10km Interval Start C)
U23
- Matthew Chronicle (1.2km Sprint F)
- Cameron Cruickshank (1.2km Sprint F, 20km Mass Start F)
- Joe Davies (20km Mass Start F, 10km Interval Start C)
- Gabriel Gledhill (1.2km Sprint F, 20km Mass Start F, 10km Interval Start C)
- Beinn Horsfall (1.2km Sprint F, 20km Mass Start F, 10km Interval Start C)
- James Slimon (10km Interval Start C)
GB Snowsport would like to congratulate all athletes selected for the Championships, and wish the best of luck to all eight squad members set to compete in Planica.
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.
The Europa Cup circuit saw debuts and comebacks for GBS athletes, while World Cup action continued in Alpine and Cross-Country
Cox and Hill take EC Freestyle Snowboard podiums
Matty Cox, in his first competition as a member of the British team, took first place at the Font Romeu Slopestyle Europa Cup, giving him his first competition victory since first place in an ANZ contest in Perisher in August 2022. Also stepping up to the podium in Font Romeu was Maisie Hill, making her comeback from serious injury after almost a year in rehabilitation and recovery. In weather-impacted conditions, the women’s Slopestyle contest Finals were cancelled leaving Hill in third place from her qualifying run, which she backed up with a repeat third place finish in the Big Air contest.
The unusually challenging conditions on the mountains put paid to Billy Cockrell’s hopes of a strong performance in Slopestyle, with high winds throughout the qualifying run jeopardising his prospects from the outset.
Young secures top-30 berth in Tour de Ski
As his teammates, Andrew Musgrave and James Clugnet were struck down by illness, Andrew Young delivered a week of highly consistent performances to secure a top-30 finish at the 2023/24 Tour de Ski. His 30th place finish in the final leg, a 15km C Mass Start, was enough to hold him in 27th spot in the overall contest after a gruelling week of racing.
Musgrave and Clugnet, whose Tours were both cut short early due to sickness, are now focusing on recovery ahead of the resumption of the World Cup circuit later this month.
Frustration for alpine Team amid tough conditions
The Alpine World Cup team endured a frustrating weekend amid challenging conditions across Europe.
In the Men’s Slalom, Dave Ryding was the pick of the bunch with a 21st place finish in Adelboden. Billy Major took 38th spot, while Laurie Taylor failed to finish the first run. Ryding’s finish, though, was enough to maintain a strong hold on third place in the overall season Men’s Slalom World Cup standings.
Charlie Guest’s first World Cup of the year saw her finish in 41st spot, while in Men’s Giant Slalom Charlie Raposo finished in 58th spot.
With a career-best finish in Trondheim under his belt, we catch up with Andrew Musgrave to get the inside story on the 2023/24 season so far
Andrew Musgrave is laughing, which is a good thing given he’s full of apologies for starting our call a few minutes late having had to navigate an unexpected, last-minute change of chalets after a hotel booking snafu. Then again, he’s got good reason to feel positive: in his last race weekend before we speak, Musgrave landed a career-best World Cup finish and equalled Britain’s best ever Cross-Country World Cup placing with silver in the Skiathlon World Cup in Trondheim.
It’s a result that sparked real warmth towards Musgrave back home, but the man himself is keen to play it down. Surely, he must have felt the significance of what he’d achieved?
“To be honest, I always feel like I’m that good,” he laughs. “It’s part of being an elite athlete, I think, having that belief in yourself. Every time I’m on the start line I think I’m going to do well, and it’s more that it ends up I’m a bit disappointed if I don’t.”
But he must have been happy with the result?
“Oh of course, I was happy, but going into the race I knew I’d been in good form, and I’d been just outside the podium places in all the distance races coming into the weekend, and Trondheim’s my home track, where I live and train. If there was anywhere I was going to have an advantage, it was going to be there.”
It would be easy to mistake Musgrave’s confidence for arrogance, but there’s enough reflectiveness and candour in his self-analysis to recognise that what drives him forward is nothing less than a deep love for the sport. Is it a sacrifice, living the life of an elite athlete over so many years?
“Not at all,” he says without absolute certainty. “There’s no sacrifice here. I look around at what I do: I get to travel around, go out on my skis, see the world. There’s people who pay money to come out and do these things for their holiday, and I get to do this for my job. It’s like ‘why would I complain about doing this?’. I’m 33 years old now; if I thought I was sacrificing something, I wouldn’t be here doing this. I’d have given it up a long time ago!”
We’re speaking a few days before the beginning of the Tour de Ski and a week or so before, in an undesirable echo of last season, Musgrave succumbs to illness alongside teammate James Clugnet which forces him to withdraw from the remainder of the Stage World Cup contest. It’s a situation that must be all the more frustrating for Musgrave, given the preparations to avoid the “mistakes” of last year’s mid-season altitude training approach.
“I think I learned last year where the limits are,” he explains. “Particularly in altitude training where the stress loads are higher, the recovery takes a bit longer. I think last year, where I was in such good form, I really wanted to squeeze out the last few drops just to get that victory. This year, I’ve realised that normal is enough, because that’s got me to where I’ve been, which is fighting for race wins anyway.”
Learning is a theme that Musgrave returns to often through our conversation, and one that reflects a point made often by that other British veteran of the podium, Dave Ryding (as an aside, Musgrave reveals that the two of them exchange messages throughout the season “as the two old men travelling around on the circuit”, he jokes): that British athletes have a later maturation date than many of their international counterparts, and more headroom to develop into in the latter stages of their careers.
“It’s absolutely something I feel, yeah. Even at 33 years old, I’m still learning, and I definitely feel because of the lack of snow time I had when I was younger that I’ve got so many areas I can still improve,” Musgrave says. “Maybe if I was a typical Norwegian Cross-Country skier at 33 years of age, the hopes for improvement wouldn’t be so great, whereas for me I’ve still got specific areas where I know I can get a lot better, and I think that’s cool for me. Some of the athletes from the more traditional countries might well have maxed out on some of those areas when they’re 21/22, whereas I’ve still got all these big gains I can make just by building out some of the technical things I’ve still got to work on. It gives me a ton of motivation, because I know I can improve still.”
Like Ryding to the Alpine community, Musgrave is undoubtedly seen from the outside of something of a standard-bearer for the next generation of Cross-Country skiers. Musgrave, though, insists it isn’t something he gives much thought to.
“Honestly, it’s not something I really think about, but I get that some of it probably happens fairly naturally. With all the experience I’ve got, I know what it takes to be good, I know what you have to do in terms of training, the hours you have to put in, the preparations that have to be right, and that’s the stuff that I’m doing when we’re out on camp,” he explains. “If the other guys are seeing that and seeing what it takes to be there with the best in the world, then hopefully that gives them bit of a spur to commit to those things too.”
It’s not a selfless endeavour though: “At the end of the day, I’m on camps to be the best skier in the world, and if they’re going to keep up with me, then they’d better be doing the same things!”
Those training camps have taken on a new lease of life over the past two seasons, with Musgrave and his British World Cup Squad counterparts now training and competing as part of Team Aker Daehlie. It’s a set-up that Musgrave is quick to heap praise on.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” he says. “We get to be a part of really good training camps, some really important financial support, and for us as the British team, the chance to train and develop with a really deep pool of athletes. For me at least that’s been one of the things that’s made a big difference over the past couple of years.”
It’s a set-up which bears a lot of similarities to the professional team set-up that’s so commonplace in international Road Cycling, a comparison which Musgrave recognises well: “It definitely feels to me that what’s being pioneered here has real meaningful links to the professional cycling system of pro-teams. And honestly, after what happened with our funding situation, it really saved us.”
It’s a good thing it did too, because Musgrave sees a bright future for British Cross-Country skiing.
“There’s some really promising young athletes there now,” he enthuses. “You’ve got Joe [Davies], just outside the top-10 at U23 level last year, and a really good chance of being well inside that this season, possibly even fighting for a medal. And with Gabe [Gledhill, whose World Cup debut came earlier this season], the difference from last year to this year is massive. If his trajectory continues like that, he’ll be winning World Cups in no time!”
Musgrave is equally clear on what needs to come next.
“Things are looking really bright, and we’ve got at least one younger female athlete on the way up – the way I see it, that’s what we really need to develop now, getting more of a women’s team on the go. But looking at the talent coming through, I’m not worried about the future for British Cross-Country skiing.”
The future might be bright, but with Musgrave in the form he’s in, and Andrew Young and James Clugnet continuing to put in strong showings on the World Cup circuit, the present feels like it’s in pretty good hands too.
Andrew Musgrave Biography
- Born: 1990
- Discipline: Cross Country
- Squad: World Cup Squad
- Hometown: Trondheim, Norway
Illness forces withdrawal of Andrew Musgrave and James Clugnet
Following the opening stages of the Tour de Ski, Andrew Musgrave and James Clugnet both fell ill and have made the decision to withdraw from the remainder of the tour and focus on recovery for the remainder of the World Cup season.
Andrew Young remains with the Tour de Ski looking to build on recent results, including a 24th place finish in the New Year’s Day 25km F Pursuit leg.
A record-breaking weekend saw British skiers and snowboarders take eight World Cup podiums
Brookes takes bronze, secures Crystal Globe
The weekend’s first podium arrived with Mia Brookes taking bronze at the Copper Mountain Big Air World Cup, and securing with it the Freestyle Snowboard Big Air Crystal Globe.
A score of 155.75 was enough to propel Brookes into the podium positions, behind Japan’s Kokomo Murase and Mari Fukada in first and second spot. The result, with Reira Iwabuchi finishing in fifth, was enough to confirm Brookes’ Crystal Globe title with three podiums in four Big Air World Cup competitions this season.
Musgrave’s superb silver
Andrew Musgrave secured his best ever World Cup result and matched Britain’s highest finish in Cross-Country World Cup competition with a breathtaking second place finish at the Trondheim Skiathlon World Cup.
Coming into the weekend’s competitions in a rich vein of form with four top-10s under his belt already, Musgrave delivered a near flawless display of Cross-Country skiing to finish in 43:51.4 just 0.7s behind race winner, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. The result gave Musgrave his third World Cup podium, after third place finishes in Toblach in 2017 and Beitostolen in 2022.
Fitzpatrick and Guest strike Gold (and Silver)
Menna Fitzpatrick and Katie Guest ensured the start to the Para Alpine season would be a memorable one, with silver and gold medal finishes in back-to-back Para Alpine Downhill World Cup races in St. Moritz.
After a hugely encouraging showing on day one of competition which yielded an excellent second place, Fitzpatrick and Guest stepped up a gear to take victory on the second day of racing, finishing ahead of South Korea’s Sara Choi and Sanghyun Jung, and Slovakia’s Alexandra Rexova and Hugo Rybar.
Atkin and Muir bank Freeski Bronzes
The Copper Mountain Freeski World Cup saw further bronze medal performances from Kirsty Muir (Freeski Big Air) and Zoe Atkin (Freeski Halfpipe), taking the overall British tally from the competition to three third place finishes.
In her first World Cup of the season, Atkin skied superbly to qualify in first before delivering a highly technical performance to secure the fourth World Cup podium of her career and her second in Copper Mountain.
Muir showed enormous bravery and grit to overcome a nasty looking fall in the second jump of the Freeski Big Air finals to ensure she also secured bronze and a fourth career World Cup podium finish. An overall score of 173.75 was enough to confirm third place, behind France’s Tess Ledeux and Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland.
Double Golds for Jaz Taylor
Telemark sensation Jaz Taylor took the 46th and 47th World Cup podiums of her career, and her first race victories since March 2022, with a brace of stunning Sprint victories in the Pinzolo Telemark World Cup.
The results further cement Taylor’s standing as the pre-eminent Telemark skier of her generation, and as one of the finest British snowsport athletes of all time.
Jeannesson in top-10 again
Mateo Jeanneasson‘s excellent early season form continued in the Alpe d’Huez Moguls World Cup with a ninth place finish giving him a second top-10 of the season. Backing up his stunning sixth place in Ruka with 12th in Idre Fjall, Jeannesson once again made finals with a superb score of 73.58 at the iconic French venue, making him the youngest athlete in the top-10.
Mixed weekend for Snowboard Cross team
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale endured a mixed weekend at the Cervinia Snowboard Cross World Cup, but nevertheless took a commendable fifth place finish in the Mixed Team event to follow their victory in the previous Team World Cup in Les Deux Alpes.
Individual World Cup races saw Nightingale finish in 31st and Bankes in 21st positions.
Guest takes another Europa Cup top-10
Charlie Guest took her second Slalom Europa Cup top-10 finish in a week with seventh place in the Valle Aurina/Ahrntal EC on Saturday, having finished eighth in Mayrhofen the previous week.
World Cup debuts for Carr, Gledhill, and Holden
Amid the good news from this weekend’s performances, there was more to celebrate with World Cup debuts for Cali Carr (Moguls), Gabriel Gledhill (Cross-Country), and Gidget Holden (Freestyle Snowboard Halfpipe).
Cross-Country star takes second place in Skiathlon World Cup
A breathtaking display of Cross-Country skiing saw Andrew Musgrave land a career-best second place finish at the Trondheim 10km Classic + 10km Free Skiathlon World Cup this afternoon.
With four top-10 finishes already in the bag this season, Musgrave’s fine early season form was rewarded in astonishing style as he delivered a brilliant performance with a finishing time of 43:51.4, just 0.7s behind Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo in first.
Speaking after the podium presentations, Andrew said:
“Today was a super good day. With the World Championships in Trondheim next year, this was a test event, so getting on the podium here was super good. I also live in Trondheim, so this was a bit of a home race for me, so it was a good place to get my podium. I feel in good shape, it’s still early in the season and I feel like I’ve still got plenty of good races to come. Now I’ve really got to try and get a victory under my belt; I need to try and catch up with Dave Ryding!”
Jostein Vinjerui, Cross-Country Team Manager, added:
“This has been an amazing day for us. Andrew’s really showed his level this season as one of the best skiers in the world! For the whole of our team, something like this is a very important result.”