GB Snowsport

Final SBX World Cup of season brings heartbreak and breakthrough as curtain goes down on spectacular year

Bankes faces injury setback, Nightingale delivers career best

The final World Cup of the year for GB Snowsport athletes looked set for an epic battle for the 2025 Snowboard Cross Crystal Globe, before an untimely training crash saw Charlotte Bankes sustain a broken collarbone and robbed her of the chance to hold on to top spot in the World Cup rankings. The 29-year-old Brit’s season nevertheless ends with a spectacular individual World Cup record: entered eight, five victories, one third place, with a Team World Cup second place and a World Championships silver medal to round out one of the all time great seasons from a British snowboarder.

Huw Nightingale meanwhile saved the best for (almost) last, an eleventh place finish in the first of the weekend’s races granting him a career-best World Cup finish, hot on the heels of a World Championships top-10 proving that this has been a true breakthrough season for the 23 year old.

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British athletes look back on (another) record breaking season

Following two seasons of record breaking results, Britain’s skiers and snowboarders can look back on another season that has helped rewrite the history books and shown that the country has earned a place at the top level of international snowsport.

Across a season which began with the opening World Cup contests in New Zealand in September, British athletes have delivered 28 Olympic discipline major podiums, four Paralympic discipline major podiums, and fourteen Telemark major podiums alongside six Crystal Globes (three for Jaz Taylor in Telemark, two for Mia Brookes in Park & Pipe Snowboard, and one for Zoe Atkin in Freeski Halfpipe), a World Championships title for Atkin, and a series of astonishing performances in almost every discipline that saw British athletes compete across the season.

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SBX star takes fourth career World Championships medal

Charlotte Bankes stormed to the fourth World Championships medal of her career with a brilliant second placed finish at the St. Moritz/Engadin World Championships.

Progressing in first place from her Quarter and Semi Final races, Bankes recovered from an early setback in an extraordinarily tense Big Final to lead into the final straight before being overhauled on the line by Michela Moioli of Italy.

The medal marks Britain’s first podium of the 2025 Freestyle World Championships, and gives Bankes her first individual World Championships medal since 2021 in Idre Fjall, alongside the second place finish she took in Salt Lake City in 2019, and the Team SBX Gold she won alongside Huw Nightingale in Bakuriani in 2023.

Speaking afterwards, Charlotte said:

“We knew our tactics today, we knew bank three was important to generate the speed for the bottom, and that I had to be patient and focus on myself.

“Unfortunately in the Final, I’m a bit frustrated with my start, but I didn’t panic, focused on building speed, came back afterwards and happy to be in the fight until the finish. That was a strong final, Michela really deserves it, and I’m happy that I pushed her to the finish.”

Bankes and Nightingale are set to return to action in the Team SBX competition tomorrow, before heading into the concluding races of the 2024/25 World Cup calendar.

As the season draws towards a close, British athletes continued to set new standards across Europe

Taylor takes double bronze at Telemark World championships

Jaz Taylor‘s incredible season continued at the Telemark World Championships with a brace of bronze medals in the Sprint and Classic disciplines.

Having shown imperious form throughout the season to lead the overall World Cup standings, Taylor’s competitive pedigree remained on full show at the 2025 Telemark World Championships as she secured third place finishes in two events alongside a fourth place in the Parallel Sprint. Remarkably Taylor’s showing marked the second time she has taken multiple medals at a single World Championships, having left the 2023 Murren World Championships with silver and bronze.

The Telemark calendar now shifts back to World Cup races, with a single meet left and the Overall Crystal Globe title still on the line, with Taylor holding the advantage against Argeline Tan Bouquet in second place.

Jeannesson records best ever British World Championships Moguls result

Mateo Jeannesson confirmed his status as one of Britain’s most exciting young talents, with the best ever result for a British Moguls skier at World Championships. Jeannesson’s fifth place in the Dual Moguls competition goes one better than the country’s previous best performances, set by Makayla Gerken Schofield in 2023 and Thomas Gerken Schofield in 2021.

Elsewhere in the Moguls competitions, there were top-30 finishes for Makayla Gerken-Schofield (23rd in Moguls, 27th in Dual Moguls) and Cali Carr on her World Championships debut (28th in Moguls, 25th in Dual Moguls).

Bronze for Bankes and Nightingale impresses in pre-World Championships World Cup

The Montafon Snowboard Cross World Cup saw impressive showings for Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale as both tuned up for the start of the SBX World Championships programme this week.

In the individual World Cup races, Bankes secured third spot and a sixth individual women’s World Cup podium, while in the Men’s contest Nightingale came in in 21st place, his joint highest World Cup finish of the season.

The Team event saw Bankes and Nightingale make it through to the Big Final before being pipped at the last stage, taking fourth place with a World Championships team event to follow this week.

Cross-Country World Cup season draws to a close with brace of top-10s

Andrew Musgrave and the Sprint team of James Clugnet and Andrew Young brought the Cross-Country World Cup season to a close with a brace of top-10 finishes in Lahti.

The Team Sprint saw Clugnet and Young ski with great skill and speed to book tenth place in a stacked field for the country’s highest Team Sprint finish this season, while the 50km C gave Musgrave a seventh top-10 finish of the season as he also finished in tenth position to close off another outstanding season for the pre-eminent British Cross-Country skier of his generation.

Slew of Slopestyle top-20s for World Championship Brits

The Freestyle World Championships Snowboard and Freeski Slopestyle contests delivered five top-20 finishes with Mia Brookes (6th), Kirsty Muir (6th), Maisie Hill (14th), Katie Ormerod (16th), and Chris McCormick (17th) all hitting the higher marks. For Brookes the result represented a good showing having been suffeirng with illness since the beginning of the Championships, while for Muir it marks another excellent performance in the context of her continued return from injury. Hill and Ormerod both looks in good form in the Snowboard field, while McCormick delivered an outstanding run with only one small mistake towards the end of the run denying him a place in Finals.

Meanwhile, Txema Mazet-Brown came in 45th, Tom Greenway 39th, and James Pouch 36th, while in Ski Cross Ollie Davies took 32nd and Scott Johns 36th.

Snowboard Cross star takes sixth individual podium of season

Charlotte Bankes’ World Cup campaign delivered a sixth individual Snowboard Cross podium of the season today with bronze in the Austrian resort of Montafon.

Qualifying in ninth place, Bankes topped her Quarter Final race and was second in Semi Finals, before finding herself at the back of the pack in the Big Final, coming through after the third interval to seize third place ahead of Australia’s Josie Baff and behind the French pair of Lea Casta and Julia Pereira de Sousa in first and second respectively.

The result means Bankes has now taken podiums at six out of eight individual World Cup appearances this season, and leaves her firmly in the hunt for the 2024/25 Crystal Globe with one World Cup meet left in the season in Mt. St. Anne in April.

GB Snowsport are delighted to confirm an 18-athlete travelling squad will represent the nation at this month’s Freestyle World Championships in St. Moritz/Engadin.

The squad, which is the largest ever to represent Britain in a Freestyle World Championships setting, features a roll call of some of the best Freestyle skiers and snowboarders in the world, and a raft of bright young talent making a mark on the world stage across multiple disciplines including eight World Championships stage debutants.

2023 World Champions Mia Brookes (Freestyle Snowboard Slopestyle) and Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale (Team Snowboard Cross) are joined by reigning Junior World Champions Mateo Jeannesson (Individual Moguls) and Txema Mazet-Brown (Freestyle Snowboard Big Air), current 2024/25 Freeski Halfpipe joint-Crystal Globe holder Zoe Atkin, and a host of World Cup podiuming athletes across multiple disciplines.

Opening on Wednesday 19 March with Moguls, the 2025 World Championships run until Sunday 30 March with British representation across Moguls, Ski Cross, Snowboard Cross, Freestyle Snowboard (Big Air. Slopestyle and Halfpipe) and Freeski (Big Air, Slopestyle, and Halfpipe).

Speaking after selections, GB Snowsport Head Coach, Pat Sharples, said:

“This year’s Freestyle World Championships is a huge moment for GB Snowsport, and I’m extremely excited about the depth of talent in the team that’s been selected to compete. Bakuriani 2023 gave us so many incredible moments, and I know everyone around the team is focused on performing to their best and hopefully giving us plenty more memorable moments over the next few weeks.

“It’s great to have a team that combines great experience with youthful promise; everyone selected and all the coaches and support teams behind them deserve huge credit for creating such an exciting and competitive group of athletes.”

Charlotte Bankes (Snowboard Cross) said:

“This has been another tough but positive season, and heading into World Championships I’m really happy with where my form’s at.

“Obviously last time out in Bakuriani was really special, winning the team event alongside Huw, and I’m going to give it my all to make sure this year is another great occasion.

“World Championships are always super competitive, and hopefully that will mean some great racing for the fans, and some good results to look forward to.”

Liam Richards (Freeski Halfpipe) said:

“I’m really proud to have been selected for World Championships and very much looking forward to getting into resort with the rest of the British team.

“I feel like I’ve made real strides with my skiing this year; competing in events like this is a great way to continue to test myself against the best in the world, and I’m excited to get out there, try to put down my best run, and see how far it can take me.”

Full Squad Selections:

Moguls

Freeski Park & Pipe

Snowboard Park & Pipe

Snowboard Cross

Ski Cross

* Set for World Championships debut

Britain’s superb 2025 continued with World Cup, World championships, and Junior world Championships successes

Bankes’ brilliance returns fifth World Cup gold of season

Charlotte Bankes demonstrated the skill and resilience that makes her one of Britain’s greatest contemporary athletes with a fifth World Cup victory of the season in the second of the weekend’s two World Cup races in Gudauri, Georgia.

A shock qualification stage elimination in the first of the weekend’s races was put swiftly in the rear-view mirror as Bankes showed her trademark dominance to come through the second of the weekend’s double header contests in first place, giving her a commanding lead in the overall standings in the process.

In the Men’s competitions, Huw Nightingale delivered one of his best performances of the season to finish in the top-30 for the third time this season, taking 28th place following a 1/8th final stage exit.

Cross-Country team secure three top-10 World Championships finishes

The Trondheim Cross-Country World Championships drew to a close at the weekend with Britain delivering a raft of memorable results, including three top-10 finishes across the Championships.

Andrew Musgrave secured the best result of the competition, with sixth place in the 50k Free providing a best British individual World Championships result since 2017. Elsewhere, a monumental effort in the Relay saw Musgrave, James Clugnet, Gabriel Gledhill, and Andrew Young take ninth place, while Joe Davies was in excellent form in the Skiathlon on his way to a 24th place finish.

Read our dedicated Cross-Country World Championships round-up here.

Alpine next generation make history in Tarvisio

The next generation of British Alpine skiers showed superb form in the Tarvisio World Junior Championships, as the team demonstrated why there’s so much excitement building around the future of British Alpine skiing.

Leading the charge was Luca Carrick-Smith, whose bronze medal winning performance in the Men’s Slalom gave Britain its first Alpine World Junior Championships podium since Graham Bell took Downhill silver in 1984.

In the U18s category, Freddy Carrick-Smith secured U18 titles in Slalom and GS, the latter coming in a race which saw three Brits in the top-12 including Jack Irving whose fifth place finish had been the best British Alpine World Junior Championships result since Chemmy Alcott’s fourth place in 2002, prior to Luca’s podium on the final day’s racing.

Taylor dominates in Krvarvec

Jaz Taylor‘s incredible run of form continued in the Slovenian resort of Krvarvec, as she returned a silver and two gold medals from two Sprint events and one Classic race, extending her lead in the overall Telemark World Cup standings in the process.

Indeed, so remarkable is Taylor’s form that she currently stands atop the Overall, Sprint, and Classic leaderboards with a remarkable ten World Cup podiums with fourteen of the season’s twenty World Cup competitions completed.

Meenagh fourth in Para Biathlon World Cup

Scott Meenagh finished just outside of the podium places at the Torsby Para Biathlon World Cup, coming fourth in the 12.5km Individual races over the weekend.

The result adds to an encouraging body of work for Meenagh in Para Biathlon this season, which has seen him edging ever closer to the podium with strong skiing and excellent shooting execution.

Carpenter into top 10 in Alpine Snowboard World junior Championships

Sam Carpenter showed his rich promise in at the Alpine Snowboard World Junior Championships with a seventh place finish in the Parallel Slalom in Zakopane/Suche.

The result comes in 18-year-old Carpenter’s fourth appearance at a World Junior Championships, and marks his best result at that level, coming hot on the heels of a breakthrough FIS level victory in Val Saint Come last month.

Snowboard Cross overall leader bounces back from shock qualification stage exit on Friday

Charlotte Bankes secured victory at this morning’s Gudauri Snowboard Cross World Cup, delivering an impressive comeback following a shock qualification stage exit in the first of the weekend’s double-header contests.

Having failed to progress to Quarter Finals in a surprise qualification stage elimination on Friday, Bankes bounced back in typically determined style with her fifth World Cup victory of the season in the Georgian resort of Gudauri.

Bankes dominated proceedings in Gudauri finishing top at each stage of today’s racing, before coming from the back of the field to seize victory in the Big Final, extending her lead at the top of the World Cup standings in the process, with three World Cup meets left to come this season.

Britain added three more World Cup podiums on another impressive week of action

Bankes and Nightingale take Turkish podiums

An impressive weekend of Snowboard Cross performances yielded podiums in the Women’s and Team events, with Charlotte Bankes continuing her run of dominant form.

In the individual competitions, Bankes was once again flawless as she executed a well-developed race strategy to secure Gold in the women’s competition, taking a fourth consecutive World Cup win in the process. Having finished fourth in the season’s opening competition, Bankes hasn’t missed a beat since and currently sits atop the overall standings with the World Cup season now more than halfway to completion.

The following day’s Team event saw Bankes and Huw Nightingale combine for a superb Silver medal winning performance behind a highly-rated Australian team. The result continues a rich vein of form for Bankes and Nightingale in the team event, with sights firmly set on the next Team race in Montafon before the pair set out to defend their Team World Championships title in St Moritz.

Barnes-Miller secures first World Cup podium of season in Steamboat

James Barnes-Miller grabbed his first Para Snowboard World Cup podium of the 2024-25 season with a third-place finish in the Snowboard Cross event in Steamboat, Colorado.

Having finished fifth in the week’s opening races, Barnes-Miller broke through into the Big Final in the second of the double-header competition, before coming through in third place to notch his first podium appearance this season.

In the women’s races, Nina Sparks took a heavy fall in the opening competition on her way to consecutive eighth-place finishes, with the team now set to be reunited with fellow World Cup squad members Ollie Hill and Matt Hamilton for the Para Snowboard World Championships in Big White, Canada, which kick off this week.

Musgrave and Clugnet impress in Trondheim

Andrew Musgrave and James Clugnet were the pick of the performances in the opening races of the 2025 Cross-Country World Championships with a seventh-place finish in the 20km Skiathlon and 19th place in the Sprint Free respectively.

In a nail-biting Skiathlon race, Musgrave was right up in the leading pack from the midway point, leading with 2.5km to go before a brutally fast finish saw him nudged back into seventh place for a result which confirms his continued status as one of the world’s top Cross-Country skiers.

In the opening races of the Championships, James Clugnet demonstrated his enduring Sprint capabilities with a top 20 placing in the Sprint Free event, registering one of the best British Sprint results of the season to date in the process.

Elsewhere, Joe Davies looked in excellent form in his sole World Championships appearance finishing 24th in the Skiathlon, with Gabriel Gledhill taking 55th spot.

Jeannesson at the double in Almaty

Mateo Jeannesson delivered another pair of solid performances at the Almaty Mogul World Cups, landing 15th in Dual Moguls and 24th in Individual Moguls. In a season where Jeannesson has delivered consistent top-30 finishes, the 20-year-old’s Almaty performances continued to show why he is rated as one of the sport’s brightest young talents, and a real prospect in the coming seasons.

Two top 30s for Brits in Kranjska Gora

Billy Major and Dave Ryding secured top 30 berths in the Kranjska Gora Slalom, with Laurie Taylor narrowly missing out on the second run with a 33rd place finish.

On a famously challenging surface, Major was the pick of the Brits coming 22nd after a solid second run performance, with Ryding marginally back from him in 24th spot.

Davies and Johns both in top 30 in Gudauri

Ollie Davies and Scott Johns both featured in the top 30 in the Gudauri Ski Cross World Cup races, finishing 29th and 30th respectively in the second of the weekend double header.

Having struggled in qualification for the first World Cup, the British pair looked in immediately better form in the second coming through comfortably in qualification, before delivering solid races to finish inside the top 30 positions in the Georgian resort.

Bankes and Nightingale second in day of dramatic racing

Great Britain took silver in the first Team Snowboard Cross World Cup competition of the season in Erzurum, Turkey, this afternoon.

The British pair of Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale qualified second from their Quarter Final heat, before coming first in a photo finish Semi Final heat with Bankes nudging ahead of Josie Baff of the Australian pairing on the finish line.

That set the stage for a Big Final which pitched the GB team against Australia (Baff and Cameron Bolton), Austria (Pia Zerkhold and Lukas Pachner), and the USA’s second team (Acy Craig and Nathan Pare). Sitting in fourth place at the midway point, Bankes raced brilliantly to bring the British team into second position finishing just behind the Australians at the close, with Austria taking third.

The result means Bankes and Nightingale have podiumed in two of the three Team SBX races held over the past two seasons, in addition to the World Championships title they secured in Bakuriani in 2023 and will look to defend in St Moritz later this month.

Speaking afterwards, Huw said:

“It felt amazing to race the team event again with Charlotte. She’s such a great racer and a brilliant teammate.

“We’re really happy to have another team event podium under our belt, and we’re both really looking forward to the next one in Montafon.”