After a period of non-programme activity following the conclusion of the 2022/23 winter season, GB Snowsport squads are now back in pre-season training.
With the 2023/24 season approaching quickly and the Freestyle World Junior Championships already on the horizon, pre-season training camps have been confirmed in the following locations while the Alpine and Cross-Country Squads have both already completed a number of pre-season camps in Peer and Bo.
Freeski
Location: Perisher, Australia
Dates: 16 August – 3 September
Athletes Attending: Connie Brogden, Caoimhe Heavey, Chris McCormick, Kirsty Muir, Mia Rennie
Location: Cardona, New Zealand
Dates: 25 August – 29 September
Athletes Attending: Zoe Atkin, Connie Brogden, Tom Greenway, Caoimhe Heavey, Kirsty Muir, Mia Rennie
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Freestyle Snowboard
Location: Perisher, Australia
Dates: 2 – 23 August
Athletes Attending: Mia Brookes, Billy Cockrell, Charlie Lane
Location: Cardona, New Zealand
Dates: 20 August – 12 September
Athletes Attending: Mia Brookes, Charlie Lane, Katie Ormerod (completing return-to-snow protocols)
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Moguls
Location: Whistler, Canada – Water Ramp Camp
Dates: 8 – 30 July
Athletes Attending: Cali Carr, Will Feneley, Makayla Gerken Schofield, Mateo Jeannesson
Location: Perisher, Australia
Dates: 18 August – 5 September
Athletes Attending: Will Feneley, Makayla Gerken Schofield, Mateo Jeannesson
Location: Hintertux, Austria
Dates: 3 – 13 October
Athletes Attending: Will Feneley, Makayla Gerken Schofield, Mateo Jeannesson
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Ski Cross
Location: Corralco, Chile
Dates: 13 – 26 September
Athlete Attending: Ollie Davies
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Snowboard Cross
Location: Corralco, Chile
Dates: 9 – 29 September
Athletes Attending: Charlotte Bankes, Huw Nightingale
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Cross Country
Location: Blink Festival, Sandnes, Norway
Dates: 31 July – 6 August
Athletes Attending: James Clugnet, Joe Davies, Andrew Musgrave
Location: Hemsedal, Norway
Dates: 10 – 15 September
Athletes Attending: James Clugnet, Joe Davies, Andrew Musgrave, Andrew Young
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Alpine
Location: Saas Fee, Switzerland – Men’s Slalom Camp
Dates: 13 August – 2 September
Athletes Attending: Billy Major, Dave Ryding, Laurie Taylor
Location: Saas Fee, Switzerland – Van Deer Camp
Dates: 7 – 15 August
Athlete Attending: Charlie Raposo
Location: Saas Fee, Switzerland – Men’s Slalom Camp
Dates: 10 – 30 September
Athletes Attending: Billy Major, Dave Ryding, Laurie Taylor
Location: Saas Fee, Switzerland – Women’s Alpine Camp
Dates: 22 August – 1 September
Athlete Attending: Charlie Guest
Location: Argentina – Van Deer Camp
Dates: 23 August – 16 September
Athlete Attending: Charlie Raposo
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Para Alpine
Location: Oslo/Fonne – Norway
Dates: 27 July – 12 August
Athletes Attending: Shona Brownlee, Menna Fitzpatrick, Katie Guest, Adam Hall, Louise Harrison, Michael Kear
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Para Snowboard
Location: Perisher, Australia
Dates: 20 July – 17 August
Athletes Attending: James Barnes-Miller, Matt Hamilton (Invitational Athlete)
Para Snowboard double World Championships medalist triumphs in voting among elite athlete community
Nina Sparks – whose 2022/23 season included a stunning double medal winning showing at the Para Snowboard World Championships, and the Europa Cup overall title – has been named Athletes’ Athlete of the Month for March 2023.
With roughly 1,100 British Elite Athletes’ Association members from over 40 sports invited to vote, Sparks earned the trophy following a monrh of remarkable personal successes.
Speaking after the vote, Nina said:
“It’s absolutely amazing. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d win – so it’s awesome that I have. The paragraph that was written about me for my nomination, I read it and was like: ‘Oh, wow. Yeah, that is quite cool – I have achieved a lot this season!
“Charlotte Bankes [Snowboard Cross World Cup member and fellow Athlete of the Month nominee] is one of the people I find extremely inspiring, so the fact we were nominated in the samemonth was like ‘Oh, wow! This is cool.’ – I find her so inspiring.”
Congratulations, Nina!
Crystal Clobe winner and double World Championship medallist on March British Elite Athletes Association award shortlist
Snowboard stars Charlotte Bankes and Nina Sparks have been named in a four person shortlist for the British Elite Athletes Association Athlete of the Month award.
Voted on by elite athletes from across the British system, Bankes and Sparks have been nominated for a series of phenomenal performances in Snowboard Cross and Para Snowboard, which saw Bankes take the 2022/23 Crystal Globe alongside a Team Snowboard Cross World Championships title, while Sparks secured the overall Europa Cup title alongside two World Championships medals at the Para Snowboard World Championships in La Molina.
Alongside our two nominees are shooter Seonaid McIntosh and wheelchair fencer Gemma Collis, with the winners to be announced by the BEAA after the results of the athlete vote are confirmed.
The British Elite Athletes Association is the independent representative body for elite British athletes across over 40 sport, supporting and empowering its members by providing confidential guidance, collating and sharing the athlete voice, and equipping athletes with the skills needed to thrive in life.
Nina Sparks’ brilliant Para Snowboard World Championships brought a second medal to her La Molina haul
Following her World Championships bronze at the La Molina Para Snowboard World Championships last week, Nina Sparks took an outstanding LL2 Dual Banked Slalom silver medal on a riveting day’s action amid challenging conditions in Spain.
Sparks’ performance saw her finish in the runner-up spot behind Lisa Bunschoten of the Netherlands, and ahead of Poland’s Natalia Siuba-Jarosz in third place.
Speaking afterwards, Nina said:
“It’s absolutely crazy. Coming in and winning one was one thing, but winning another today was just beyond my wildest dreams. I’ve managed to put into practice all the tips and tricks I’ve been working on this year, and managed to come away with two medals.
“Qualifying in second was really cool, I didn’t really expect that. The semi-final was a super tight race, I think we ended up with something like 0.12s between us; it meant I could just go for it in the Big Final, and came out with the silver.”
Charlotte Bankes took brilliant double World Cup wins as Britain’s 2022/23 medal count grew to 39
In her first World Cup competitions since the Bakuriani World Championships, Charlotte Bankes sealed brilliant back-to-back World Cup gold medals in the Sierra Nevada Snowboard Cross World Cup. The results mean she has now taken victory in each of the last four World Cup races and leaves her top of the 2023 Snowboard Cross Cup Standings, with 478 points to Chloe Trespeuch’s 460.
In both races, Bankes held off a strong challenge from Trespeuch, with the French Snowboard Cross star taking silver on each occasion, leaving the race for the Crystal Globe in the balance as the season moves towards its conclusion.
The men’s races, meanwhile, saw Huw Nightingale finish in 48th place.
There was also good news from the Para Snowboard Snowboard Cross races at the La Molina World Championships, where Nina Sparks took an excellent bronze medal in the opening weekend of the Championships. James Barnes-Miller and Ollie Hill were left empty handed after the opening races of the competition, but with Dual Banked Slalom races still to come, Britain has a chance to add further to an already excellent World Championships haul this season.
Sparks’ and Bankes’ results pushed Britain’s World Championships, World Cup, and X Games medal haul for the season to a scarcely believable 39 with podiums in every single discipline across the winter.
At Europa Cup level, Mateo Jeannesson took a superb Dual Moguls victory at the Engadin Europa Cup competition. One of the youngest competitors in the field, Jeannesson’s victory was the second time he’s climbed the podium this season, after victory in the Hintertux Open in November. Mateo’s brother, Tom, finished in 15th in Dual Moguls following a superb fourth place in Single Moguls a day earlier.
There was disappointment in Alpine at the Are World Cup for Charlie Guest and at the Kranjska Gora World Cup for Charlie Raposo, with each posting a DNF amid tricky race conditions.
In Telemark, Jazmin Taylor recorded the third World Cup podium of her season with bronze at the Krvavec Sprint World Cup, while in Cross Country Andrew Musgrave finished just outside of the top-10 with an 11th place finish in the Oslo World Cup 50km F Mass Start, which saw a remarkable Norwegian clean sweep of the top-10 places. Joe Davies, meanwhile, took a superb victory at the NCAA Championships with first place in the 10km F before a very promising sixth in the 20km C Mass Start.
Britain’s first medal of the World Para Snowboard Championships comes from LL2 SBX races
Nina Sparks, who earlier this month secured the overall Europa Cup Para Snowboard title, took Britain’s first medal of the La Molina 2023 World Para Snowboard Championships with an excellent bronze medal in the Snowboard Cross discipline.
In a fully European field, Sparks was third on the podium behind Lisa Bunschoten of the Netherlands in the gold medal position, and Switzerland’s Romy Tschopp who took silver.
Speaking afterwards, Sparks said:
“The amazing support from GB Snowsport, the staff team, my teammates has really fired me to do better and push myself this season. It’s been so cool, the support has been amazing.
“The course today was really soft and quite narrow – riding the heat with four people was kind of scary! I’m not sure if the weather was a help or a hindrance. I think it made me more confident, because if I was going to fall it was going to be a softer landing, but all the ruts and holes in the course were definitely a challenge!”
Britain’s three-person squad of Sparks, Ollie Hill, and James Barnes-Miller are set to compete throughout the Championships’ full programme, with Banked Slalom races to follow next week.
This International Women’s Day, we look at women blazing a trail for GB Snowsport this season
By any measure – and with a few weeks of competition still to go – the 2022-23 season has been a spectacular success for British skiers and snowboarders. And in a year of unprecedented successes, one thing is clear – British women are etching their name into national snowsport history time and time again. This International Women’s Day, we take a closer look at the female athletes blazing a trail for GB Snowsport this season.
Mia Brookes
Where else to begin, except with perhaps the biggest breakout star in British sport this year? Mia Brookes’ name has been spoken with awe and excitement for years now by those in the know, but on her first season on the World Cup circuit the 16 year old’s raw promise has emerged as fully-fledged success.
From a podium on her Slopestyle World Cup debut in Laax in January to her breathtaking Slopestyle World Championships victory in Bakuriani this month, Mia is fast emerging as one of the most exciting sport talents in Britain. Plus, she’s already written her name into the history books as the first woman to land a cab-1440 in competition.
Zoe Atkin
You could be forgiven for thinking Zoe Atkin has been around forever – 2023 is, after all, her fifth year on the World Cup circuit. But the 20-year-old Freeski Halfpipe sensation has really come into her own this year, a rise she puts down in part to giving herself a mental break after the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing last year. And the results speak for themselves: Gold at X Games 2023, and a brace of silvers at the Bakuriani World Championships and Mammoth Mountain World Cup since the turn of the year.
Zoe’s result in Bakuriani saw her follow in sister Izzy’s footseteps be taking back-to-back World Championships medals, having previously taken bronze at the 2021 World Championships.
Charlotte Bankes
What is there to say about Charlotte Bankes, which hasn’t already been said? The reigning Snowboard Cross Crystal Globe holder remains a near-permanent fixture on the World Cup podium, but perhaps more impressive is her resilience and dedication in the face of adversity.
Elimination in the individual Snowboard Cross World Championships contest could have knocked any athlete from their stride, but Charlotte returned alongside Huw Nightingale to deliver a stunning Team Snowboard Cross World Championships title, the first in British history, and ensure she goes down as a back-to-back World Champion, having taken the solo title in 2021.
Kirsty Muir
At 18, Kirsty Muir is already recognised as one of the finest Slopestyle and Big Air skiers in world snowsport, and her performances this year have done nothing to undermine that reputation. Whether it’s double bronze medals at X Games 2023, World Cup silver at Mammoth Mountain in February, or a fourth place that left her agonisingly close to a Big Air medal at the Bakuriani World Championships having suffered an injury ahead of the Slopestyle competition that left any question of participation at the Championships up in the air, Kirsty’s continued excellence marks her out as one of the world’s best despite her young age.
Nina Sparks
In a remarkable season for the Para Snowboard squad, Nina Sparks has shown her promise with a superb overall victory in the Europa Cup competition. In landing the overall title, she joined fellow teammates James Barnes-Miller and Ollie Hill in taking overall titles, with her two compatriots doing so on their respective World Cup circuits.
In a season full of breakthrough performances, the biggest challenges still lie ahead, with the rescheduled La Molina World Championships getting underway this week, and offering another opportunity for Nina to show her talent on the biggest stages.
Menna Fitzpatrick and Katie Guest
Winter Olympic gold medalist. Three time World Champion. Multiple World Cup medalist. Britain’s most decorated Winter Paralympian. And still just 24 years old.
Menna Fitzpatrick is a phenomenon, and her performances alongside her guide, Katie Guest, this season have continued to show why she is so highly respected on the Para Alpine circuit. Another two medals – a silver and a bronze – at the Para Alpine World Championships added to a medal collection which is near unsurpassed in any British winter sport. A legend of the sport, and an icon in British Paralympic history.
Makayla Gerken Schofield
A trailblazer alongside her siblings, Makayla became the second Gerken Schofield (after her brother, Tom) to achieve a World Cup podium with her bronze medal in Val St Come earlier this year, and the first woman in British history to achieve a Moguls World Cup podium.
Indeed, so exceptional have Makayla’s performances been this season that she has only once dipped below the top-10 on the World Cup stage, before delivering another pair of top-10s including a stunning sixth place in Dual Moguls at the Bakuriani World Championships. A fierce competitor, and a superb talent.
Jaz Taylor
One of the most pre-eminent names in the world of Telemark skiing, Jaz Taylor’s performances this season have added another two World Cup podiums to her already astonishing tally of performances over recent seasons.
With World Championships also on the horizon, Jaz has every opportunity to continue her role as one of Britain’s pre-eminent snowsport athletes.
The Para Snowboard World Cup season drew to a close with Britain banking four overall titles
With the Para Snowboard World Championships on the horizon, Britain’s Para Snowboard squad closed out the World Cup season with a scarcely believable four overall titles.
James Barnes-Miller led the way with double Crystal Globes in SBX and overall, with Ollie Hill taking the Banked Slalom Crystal Globe, and Nina Sparks taking the Europa Cup overall title.
Barnes-Miller’s four victories and two runner up spots was enough to leave him comfortably at the top of the Men’s UL standings, while in Banked Slalom Ollie Hill just held off competition from Italy’s Emanuel Perathoner in a season that gave him two podium places in Landgraaf.
Nina Sparks’ dominance of the Europa Cup LL2 category was marked with a stunning run of four Snowboard Cross victories in a row, bookended with runner up spots in Banked Slalom and SBX in San Pellegrino and Pyha.
More history made as Britain’s record-breaking season continues
As another weekend of high drama on the slopes came to a close, GB Snowsport athletes could look back on another history-making achievement in a season which has seen records set across the globe. For the first time in history, every single discipline under the GB Snowsport banner has delivered a World Cup, World Championships, or X Games podium – a record which includes no fewer than nine gold medals.
Cementing the record was Ollie Davies, who produced a sensational performance in the second of two Ski Cross World Cup races in Reiteralm, Austria, to take silver and the first podium of his five-year World Cup career. Coming off the back of a promising 12th place in the week’s first World Cup, Davies was blisteringly fast across the Finals, with his final run leaving him just 0.43s behind the veteran Swiss Jonas Lenherr who took the fifth World Cup victory of his career. Davies’ performance comes just days before he sets out for the World Championships in Bakuriani, for a competition which catapulted him to the highest reaches of the sport in 2021, where he took a surprise fourth place in Idre Fjall and proved his ability to mix it with the very best in the world.
There were more podiums in the Para Snowboard set-up, where James Barnes-Miller took World Cup gold and Nina Sparks Europa Cup gold in Grasgehren. Poor weather conditions meant the loss of the weekend’s second set of races, but the results left Barnes-Miller with a scarcely believable six podiums including four victories in his last six World Cup competitions, and well out in front of the Men’s Snowboard Cross SB-UL World Cup FIS points list, with a gap of almost 2000 WC points to his nearest rival, Italy’s Jacopo Luchini, while Nina Sparks also tops the women’s SB-LL2 Europa Cup rankings with 2200 points for the season to date.
At the Alpine World Ski Championships in Courchevel, Charlie Raposo put a difficult season behind him to take an excellent 17th place in the Giant Slalom race, with a second run which saw him briefly take the leader’s chair. His second run time of 1:14.44 was bettered by only seven skiers in the whole race, including winner Marco Odermatt, and showed conclusively Raposo’s ability to deliver on the biggest stages.
In the Men’s Slalom, Dave Ryding had the pick of the results with a 13th place finish, with Billy Major joining him inside the top-30, finishing 28th, and Laurie Taylor just outside coming 33rd. Ed Guigonnet also qualified for the second run, before recording a DNF. Ryding’s finishing time of 1:40.32 left him 0.82 behind Henrik Kristoffersen, who topped the podium for Norway, with Ryding delivering a characteristically fast second run, the fifth quickest in the field. Away from the World Championships, Laurie Taylor also took seventh in Europa Cup in Berchtesgaden.
The Women’s Slalom saw Charlie Guest finish just outside the top-30 with a 31st place finish, having battled back from injury to take her position in the starting gate. Victoria Palla, on her World Championships debut, took an impressive 36th spot while Reece Bell and Alex Tilley, both of whom have also been on the comeback from injury this season, registered DNF in the second and first runs respectively.
Tilley qualified for the second run in the Women’s Giant Slalom before lodging a DNF, while the pick of the Championships’ other results came in the Alpine Combined, where Owen Vinter took 17th place and Ed Guigonnet 22nd. In the Downhill, Roy Steudle took 39th, while Calum Langmuir’s World Championships debut saw him take 38th in Super G.
In Telemark, Jaz Taylor added another World Cup podium to her career record with third place in the Sprint World Cup in Aal, with 19th, eighth, and sixth place finishes in two Classic and one Parallel Sprint races. Sissi Compton took four top-20 finishes with two twentieth places, a nineteenth, and an eighteenth.
All eyes now turn to the Freestyle World Championships in Bakuriani, where the first day of official competition for British athletes comes on Thursday with the Ski Cross qualifiers.