Superb skiing in Lillehammer on a weekend of weather impacts in Sweden, and high-octane action in Beijing
Musgrave and Davies to the fore in high-grade Cross-Country showing
The British Cross-Country team, racing as part of Team AkerDaehlie, laid down a marker at the Lillehammer World Cup with a slew of excellent performances across the weekend’s competitions.
The best results of the weekend came on the final day’s racing, where Andrew Musgrave raced to a brilliant sixth place in the 10km/10km Classic/Free Skiathlon, with Joe Davies managing a new career-best finish in 15th spot, and Andrew Young making it three top-30 results with a 30th place finish. Amid a highly-competitive race, Musgrave led with just over 2.5km to go, before being reeled in but securing his first top-10 finish of the World Cup season, hot on the heels of an 11th place finish in the earlier 10km F races.
In the same 10km F race, Davies had matched his previous best World Cup finish with an excellent 16th place, while Young took 43rd and Gabriel Gledhill came in in 51st.
The weekend’s Sprint races saw James Clugnet take 42nd in the Sprint F, with Andrew Young in 46th, and Gledhill in 82nd.
Secret Garden Halfpipe action sees signs for encouragement
Zoe Atkin, Liam Richards, and Siddhartha Ullah all showed encouraging signs at the Secret Garden Halfpipe World Cup, with Atkin’s seventh place the pick of the results.
Qualifying for the Women’s Freeski Finals in 3rd, Atkin pushed outside of her established routine’s comfort zone, and was close to landing a superb run that would’ve challenged the higher medal positions in Finals, but fell marginally short to leave her in a still impressive seventh spot.
In the Men’s Freeski competition, Liam Richards skied brilliantly in only his second World Cup since transferring to the British system over the summer, just missing out on Finals and showing much of the rich promise that has marked him out as one of the sport’s most exciting young athletes to watch.
Meanwhile in the Men’s Freestyle Snowboard competition, Siddhartha Ullah finished in 34th spot in only his seventh World Cup start.
Weather interrupts Moguls programme in Idre Fjall
Having seen relatively few weather disruptions to the early part of the season’s calendar, the Idre Fjall Dual Moguls competition fell victim to heavy fog on the Swedish slopes, leaving the weekend shorn of the latter half of its competition schedule.
In the individual Moguls events, Cali Carr took 26th and Mateo Jeannesson 34th, with the team now entering a period away from competition after the Alpe d’Huez World Cup which had been planned for the coming weekend was called off having failed snow control procedures.
Beijing hosts the latest Halfpipe World Cups, while Lillehammer and Idre Fjall play host to Nordic and Moguls contests
Halfpipe World Cups, Secret Garden, China
Zoe Atkin, Liam Richards, and Siddhartha Ullah represent Britain’s latest World Cup interest in China as Secret Garden plays hosts to the latest of the season’s Halfpipe World Cup contests. In a midweek start, the Women’s Freeski Halfpipe qualifiers were postponed due to bad weather, with qualification and Finals now set for the weekend. Conditions held off long enough to permit the Men’s Freeski contest to get underway, where Richards skied brilliantly but just missed out on qualification for the weekend’s Finals.
In the Snowboard Halfpipe contest, Siddhartha Ullah is set for his first World Cup of the season and only the seventh of his career, with qualifiers set for early Friday morning.
Secret Garden Halfpipe – British Line-Up:
- Zoe Atkin
- Liam Richards
- Siddhartha Ullah
Cross Country World Cup, Lillehammer
The full Cross-Country World Cup squad is set to compete for the first time on this season’s World Cup calendar across the weekend’s Lillehammer World Cup races. Joe Davies will be looking to build on excellent performances at last weekend’s Ruka World Cup, while James Clugnet, Gabriel Gledhill, Andrew Musgrave, and Andrew Young will be taking to their opening World Cup start lines.
All five are due to compete in the 10km Free and Sprint Free races, while the Skiathlon 10/10km Classic/Free will see a three-man team of Davies, Musgrave, and Young in the line-up.
Lillehammer World Cup – British Line-Up:
- James Clugnet
- Joe Davies
- Gabriel Gledhill
- Andrew Musgrave
- Andrew Young
Moguls World Cup, Idre Fjall
The next stop on the Moguls World Cup circuit will Cali Carr and Mateo Jeannesson in the Idre Fjall World Cup, with Will Feneley set to make a late decision on whether to compete as he ramps up his return from injury. Amid exceptionally cold and icy conditions, competition is set to take place across 6-7 December, at a venue that has seen three previous top-10 finishes for British skiers, all from Makayla Gerken Schofield, as well as an 11th place finish for Feneley in 2020, and 12th place for Jeannesson last year.
Idre Fjall World Cup – British Lined-Up:
- Cali Carr
- Will Feneley
- Mateo Jeannesson
Header Image: Liam Richards
Super snowboarders cap stunning week of British snowsport
Brookes brilliant in Beijing
Mia Brookes took the first of what are sure to be many career World Cup victories with a superlative performance at the Beijing Big Air World Cup. With a World Championships title and five World Cup podiums under her belt going into the Beijing contest, Brookes’ maiden World Cup victory came courtesy of a dominant Finals performance that showcased her new Dub 12 backed up by the Cab 1440 to put her top of the podium.
Elsewhere in Beijing, Maisie Hill‘s first Big Air World Cup appearance of the season landed a 21st place finish, while Txema Mazet-Brown finished the men’s contest in 38th place having come close to landing a Cab-18 on two attempts in qualification.
In the Freeski contest, Chris McCormick was again the pick of the bunch finishing 17th with a score of 156.75, with James Pouch in 34th and Tom Greenway placing 44th.
Hill lands Bronze in Landgraaf
The opening Para Snowboard World Cup of the season saw Ollie Hill take Bronze in the second of the week’s double header races. Qualifying for the Small Final, Hill’s time of 34.80s was enough to land him a podium spot ahead of America’s Zach Miller, in a reversal of the first day’s results. Gold and Silver were taken on both days by Italy’s Emmanuel Peranthoner and Australia’s Ben Tudhope respectively.
Elsewhere in Landgraaf, James Barnes Miller finished just outside the medals with a second day fourth place following fifth on the first day’s racing, while Matt Hamilton bagged a pair of eighth place finishes, and Nina Sparks took seventh and eighth.
Davies matches career-best World Cup result
Joe Davies demonstrated his rich potential at the Ruka Cross Country World Cup, finishing 16th in the 20km Free Mass Start, equalling his previous career-best World Cup finish in the process. The 23-year-old, racing in only his third year on the World Cup circuit, raced brilliantly to finish in a time of 46:36.5 a little over 20s outside of the top-10. In the first of the weekend’s races and in his less favoured discipline, Davies managed a 54th place finish in the 10km Classic.
Moguls season underway with promising results for Carr and JEannesson
The Moguls World Cup season got underway with promising performances from a youthful British World Cup Squad pairing of Cali Carr and Mateo Jeannesson. Carr, 17, finished 24th in a strong field for her best single Moguls World Cup result to date, while Jeannesson, who enjoyed a breakout season in 2023-24, finished 19th for a fifth top-20 finish since the start of his World Cup career in the 2021-22 season.
Palla builds experience in Killington
Victoria Palla‘s World Cup career continued with a sixth World Cup start, and her first in North America, at the Killington Slalom World Cup, ending in a first run DNF.
Taylor’s Telemark season opens with FIS race podium
Jaz Taylor‘s 2024-25 season got underway with a third place finish at the season-opening FIS Sprint races in Hintertux. The reigning Crystal Globe holder came in in 2:16.55 to finish in the Bronze medal slot, behind Goril Strom Eriksen in second and Argeline Tan Bouquet in first.
Season openers for Para Snowboard, Cross-Country and Moguls join Park & Pipe and Slalom World Cup meets
Para-Snowboard World Cup, Landgraaf
The Para Snowboard squad are set for their first World Cup of the 2024/25 season with a four-athlete line-up set for back-to-back Banked Slalom races on the indoor slopes of Landgraaf.
The full World Cup squad of James Barnes-Miller, Matt Hamilton, Ollie Hill, and Nina Sparks are set to compete at a venue which has seen notable prior British successes, including Gold and Silver medals for Hill in 2022.
Landgraaf Banked Slalom – British Line-Up:
- James Barnes-Miller
- Matt Hamilton
- Ollie Hill
- Nina Sparks
Moguls World Cup, Ruka
The Finnish resort of Ruka will play host to the opening Moguls World Cup competition of the season and the first contest in the Milan-Cortina qualification period.
Three Brits are slated for the start line, with Cali Carr and Mateo Jeanneasson, alongside Will Feneley who is set to make his long-awaited return from a serious knee injury which caused him to miss the whole of the 2023/24 World Cup season.
For Jeannesson and Carr, the competition marks their first competitive action since the World Junior Championships in April, from which the former emerged with Gold and Bronze medals.
Ruka Moguls World Cup – British Line-Up:
- Cali Carr
- Will Feneley
- Mateo Jeannesson
Cross-Country World Cup, Ruka
Ruka also sees the Cross-Country World Cup season get underway with 10km Interval Classic, Sprint Classic, and 20km Mass Free races across a three day stretch.
British interest will come in the shape of 23-year-old Joe Davies, in his sixth World Cup meet and first in Finland.
Ruka Cross-Country World Cup – British Line-Up:
- Joe Davies
Park & Pipe Big Air World Cup, Beijing
The world’s only permanent Big Air ramp will host the Beijing Big Air World Cup, with Freeski and Freestyle Snowboard athletes both set to compete in the Chinese capital.
Mia Brookes starts as Britain’s most highly-favoured athlete with her second Big Air World Cup start of the season with Maisie Hill and Txema Mazet-Brown rounding out the Freestyle Snowboard line-up.
In the Freeski competition, Tom Greenway, Chris McCormick, and James Pouch are slated to appear in a repeat of the line-up that skied impressively at the Stubai Slopestyle World Cup last weekend.
Beijing Big Air World Cup – British Line-Up:
- Mia Brookes (Freestyle Snowboard)
- Tom Greenway (Freeski)
- Maisie Hill (Freestyle Snowboard)
- Txema Mazet-Brown (Freestyle Snowboard)
- Chris McCormick (Freeski)
- James Pouch (Freeski)
Alpine Slalom World Cup, Killington
Vici Palla will make her third World Cup start of the season at the Thanksgiving Weekend Slalom races in Killington, USA, in her first competition in North America since triumph in the NorAm Slalom Cup in 2023/24.
The Killington slope was the location of a top-30 finish for Charlie Guest in 2021, who also lined up for the North American races in 2022 and 2023.
Killington Slalom World Cup – British Line-Up:
Vici Palla
How to Watch:
The Killington Slalom, Ruka Cross-Country, Ruka Moguls and Beijing Big Air are all available for UK viewers to watch on Eurosport. The Landgraaf Para Snowboard World Cup results will be tracked live on FIS-Ski.com
Andrew Musgrave and James Clugnet impress at Elite Rollerski event
Cross-Country World Cup Squad members Andrew Musgrave and James Clugnet brought their skills to bear on the summer hills of Norway with a brace of podiums at Blink Festival 2024.
Musgrave, racing in the Classic discipline, stormed to victory with a margin of 22.2 seconds on second placed Erik Sverdrup Augral, while Clugnet took a superb silver medal in the Sprint discipline, just 0.4s behind Einar Hedegart of Norway.
The event, which brings some of the world’s best Cross-Country and Biathlon athletes together during the pre-season period, has long attracted a high-quality field, with a competition calendar which showcases the speed, physical endurance, and skill of the best international Nordic athletes.
The British World Cup team has traditionally used the Blink Festival races as part of a summer training and competition preparation calendar, with Musgrave and Clugnet joined at the Festival this year by Gabe Gledhill and Joe Davies.
Header image credit: Arild Aarnes
GB Snowsport has named a five-man World Cup team as part of a 20-athlete Cross-Country squad for the upcoming 2024/25 season.
- Eight new athletes selected across Continental Cup and Junior Squads
- Team Aker Daehlie World Cup Squad looking to build on promising results in 2023/24 season
The World Cup Squad group, who will compete again under the Team Aker Daehlie banner, sees Gabriel Gledhill promoted from last season’s Continental Cup Squad, joining James Clugnet, Joe Davies, Andrew Musgrave, and Andrew Young.
With last season delivering some excellent results, including Andrew Musgrave’s Trondheim Skiathlon World Cup Silver medal, a performance which matched the best ever British Cross-Country World Cup finish, the team go into the new season in strong shape, with Gledhill’s elevation to the team confirming Britain’s largest World Cup Squad grouping in years.
The Continental Cup Squad sees two new athletes join the team for the first time, with Gangwon Youth Olympic Games team member Thomas Duncan joining the set-up at just 16 years old, and Catherine Stow moving from the American system to compete as part of the British set-up. Duncan and Stow are joined by Cameron Cruickshank and James Slimon, both promoted from the Performance Squad, and Beinn Horsfall and Tabitha Williams, both of whom will be invited to train with the World Cup Squad as part of their long-term development plan.
Logan Duncan and Hamish Wolfe make up the 2024/25 Performance Squad, while the Junior Squad names Elke Hammerstein alongside six new athletes, Gangwon Youth Olympic Winter Games team members Elspeth Cruickshank and Sophie Forth, with Jakob Ipsen, Rasmus Ipsen, Ewan McAdam, and Jack Somerset also joining the ranks.
Sophia Wilson, meanwhile, achieved selection to the Performance Squad but has elected not to take up her place this season owing to an on-going injury.
Full Squad Selections:
World Cup Squad
- James Clugnet
- Joe Davies
- Gabriel Gledhill*
- Andrew Musgrave
- Andrew Young
Continental Cup Squad
- Cameron Cruickshank**
- Thomas Duncan†
- Beinn Horsfall‡
- James Slimon**
- Catherine Stow †
- Tabitha Williams‡
Performance Squad
- Logan Duncan
- Hamish Wolfe
Junior Squad
- Elspeth Cruickshank†
- Sophie Forth†
- Elke Hammerstein
- Jakob Ipsen†
- Rasmus Ipsen†
- Ewan McAdam†
- Jack Somerset†
* Promoted from Continental Cup Squad
** Promoted from Performance Squad
† New selection
‡ Invited to train with World Cup Squad
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.