A jam-packed week saw success across multiple disciplines for GB Snowsport athletes
Neil Simpson goes four-from-four in Para Alpine
Neil Simpson delivered a series of standout performances at the Saalbach Para Alpine World Cup, taking four podiums from four races across Downhill and Super-G disciplines. A pair of DH bronze medals, guided by Andrew Simpson and by Rob Poth, and Super-G silver and bronze with Poth and Simpson respectively guiding made it a blue ribbon week for a discipline steeped in British Paralympic heritage.
Bankes’ brilliance to the fore in Snowboard Cross
Charlotte Bankes showed her world class standing in back-to-back World Cups in Dongbeiya, China, taking gold and bronze on consecutive days. A dominant performance in the weekend’s first race saw Bankes top the standings in qualifiers, quarters, semis, and finals, while the second day’s competition saw her grab bronze in a tightly-contested final races.
On the men’s side, Huw Nightingale continued to show his ability to mix it with the best in the world coming 17th in the weekend’s first contest after qualifying in 14th, while in the second of the weekend’s races, Max Vardy progressed to the knockout stages for the first time before finishing in 20th place.
Barnes-Miller bags silver in Kuehtai Para Snowboard World Cup
James Barnes-Miller grabbed a sensational silver medal in the Kuehtai Para Snowboard Banked Slalom World Cup alongside a seventh place finish in a typically competitive Men’s UL field. Barnes-Miller’s podium, his first of the World Cup season, came amid a week of strong Para Snowboard performances across the board, with Ollie Hill also taking a top-five finish, Nina Sparks twice finishing inside the top-ten, and Davy Zyw taking a brace of Europa Cup podiums with a silver and a bronze.
Taylor takes Telemark silver
Jaz Taylor‘s podium successes continued with a silver medal winning performance in the first of back-to-back Carezza World Cup races, and giving her a second podium of the season following her Sprint World Cup win in Pinzolo in December.
And the rest…
The Men’s Slalom team faced down battling conditions in the Lauberhorn slope in Wengen, with Luca Carrick-Smith the pick of the bunch, finishing 34th after the first run in a personal best World Cup showing. Billy Major and Laurie Taylor came in 41st and 42nd on the first run respectively, while Dave Ryding was a first run DNF with a straddle.
The Women’s night Slalom in Flachau saw Vici Palla record a first run DNF.
In Cross-Country, James Clugnet delivered the weekend’s best showing, finishing 32nd in Sprint Free qualifying to narrowly miss out on Finals, while in Moguls Makayla Gerken Schofield finished 26th in the individual women’s event in a race week impacted by poor weather conditions.
She Who Dares and Keep Calm and Slalom to focus on some of country’s biggest name athletes ahead of Milan-Cortina Games
GB Snowsport athletes are set to feature in two major new TNT Sports documentaries in the build-up to the Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
Coming shortly before the first Winter Olympics on a European timezone since Sochi 2014, both documentaries have seen film crews and producers granted unprecedented access to some of Britain’s most exciting ski and snowboard athletes, and will provide a new and unique viewpoint on the journey towards Milan-Cortina.
She Who Dares
In She Who Dares, the experiences of female Freestyle stars Zoe Atkin, Charlotte Bankes, Mia Brookes, Makayla Gerken Schofield, and Kirsty Muir as well as GB Snowsport chief Executive, Vicky Gosling, will be brought to the fore, giving viewers a chance to gain unique insight into the preparation and reflections of the some of the biggest names in women’s snowsport through their build-up towards the Olympic Winter Games.
Filmed over almost a year, the documentary will give new and experienced fans the most in-depth view yet of the characters behind some of Britain’s most remarkable sporting successes of recent years.
Keep Calm and Slalom
Billed as an underdog story in the greatest tradition of British sporting successes, Keep Calm and Slalom follows the Men’s Alpine World Cup team of Billy Major, Dave Ryding, and Laurie Taylor as the three push for selection for the Milan-Cortina Games. Up against teams with budgets far in excess of their own, the documentary team goes behind-the-scenes with the team as they travel for training and World Cup competitions in a bid to secure the spots needed to represent Team GB in Milan-Cortina.
Both documentaries will premiere on TNT Sports later this month, ahead of the opening of the Milan-Cortina Games in 6 February.
Find out more here.
Snowboard Cross star takes first solo World Cup victory since shoulder injury
Charlotte Bankes returned to the top of the Snowboard Cross World Cup podium with a dominant performance in the Chinese resort of Dongbeiya.
The fastest athlete in the field through qualification, Bankes took control of the knockout stages immediately, finishing in first place in both the quarter and semi-final contests, putting her into the Big Final line-up alongside Josie Baff, Chloe Trespeuch, and Michela Moioli.
The Big Final itself saw Bankes display her trademark speed and racing nous to power through in first place ahead of Baff and Trespeuch, with Moioli coming through in fourth spot. The result gives Bankes a first individual World Cup podium since taking bronze at the Montafon World Cup in March, a first victory since the Gudauri World Cup in the same month, and confirms her return to the top of the sport following the shoulder injury she sustained in training for the final race of last season.
Speaking afterwards, Charlotte said:
“I had a good day today, tight racing on quite a short course. I knew the bottom section was going to be important, but I wanted to make the most of the turns at the top knowing that’s where I could build an advantage up.
“My quarter and semi races both had good parts, but I didn’t feel they were fully executed runs. That’s what makes me even more satisfied with the final, because we knew staying in fronf with the draft was going to be difficult.
“Being back with the win is great. It’s not been a smooth journey, but the support from the team, especially Jerome [Choupin – GB Snowsport SBX Head Coach] has been vital to be where I’m at now. I’ve been fast in training, but it’s important to pull it off in the race where it counts.
“It was also great to see Huw’s speed in qualis yesterday, and today he was right in the mix. He’s right there, and about to pull of a really good result, and hopefully that comes tomorrow.”
Simpson adds Super-G Silver to double Downhill Bronze
Neil Simpson took his third World Cup podium of the week with silver in the Saalbach World Cup Super G races yesterday.
Racing alongside guide Rob Poth, Simpson displayed impressive pace and control to take his first ever Super G World Cup podium, and his fourth career major podium in the discipline in which he won gold at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games and the 2023 World Championships.
The result caps a remarkable week of sustained success for the 23-year-old Scot, which saw him seal bronze medals in the back-to-back Downhill World Cup races.
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale hit gold, Atkin clinches Silver in China, and XC team impress in Davos
Bankes and Nightingale top Team standings in Cervinia
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale took Snowboard Cross World Cup victory on the season’s first week of SBX action with a sensational display of racing speed and tactics.
The 2023 Team SBX World Champions raced brilliantly throughout Sunday’s event, qualifying in second spot from the Quarter Final stage before victory in the Semi Final saw them through to a Big Final showdown against teams representing Italy, France, and Germany.
Sitting in third position after the men’s run, Bankes then dominated the women’s run to seal victory ahead of Italy in second and France in third.
In the individual competitions, Bankes marked her first appearance since sustaining a broken collarbone to take ninth spot, while in the Men’s contest, Nightingale finished 34th and Max Vardy took 37th on his World Cup debut.
Atkin wins Silver in Secret Garden
Zoe Atkin marked her first appearance of the season with silver in the Secret Garden Halfpipe World Cup. The reigning Halfpipe World Champion skied brilliantly in challenging conditions to lead the standings after the first run, before she was overhauled by China’s Eileen Gu by a margin of 1.50 points.
Earlier, the men’s competition saw Gus Kenworthy and Sam Gaskin finish 34th and 35th respectively, while Siddhartha Ullah came 30th in the Men’s Snowboard competition.
Clugnet and Musgrave headline strong showing for Cross-Country team in Davos
James Clugnet and Andrew Musgrave put in superb showings amid a strong team performance in Davos on the latest leg of the Cross-Country World Cup. Clugnet’s tenth place finish in the Men’s SP F was followed by sixth place for Musgrave in 10km F to give both athletes their best finish of the season so far. Earlier, the Team Sprint had seen both Clugnet and Andrew Young and Anna Pryce and Tabitha Williams finish in 17th, just outside of Finals, while Pryce was also on impressive form to take 35th in the Sprint Free, and Young 41st in the 10km F. Joe Davies, meanwhile, made his first appearance of the season taking an excellent 17th place in the 10km F.
Meenagh secures brace of Biathlon top-10s in Canmore
Scott Meenagh‘s first Para Biathlon World Cup showing of the season yielded a brace of top-10 finishes alongside an 11th place in the 12.5km Individual. The highlight came with a 5th place in the Sprint discipline which saw Meenagh in striking distance of a podium before a crash and damaged ski held back further progress, before following up with an 8th place in the Sprint Pursuit.
Two in top-30 in Men’s Val d’Isere Slalom
A challenging course delivered two top-30 finishes for the Men’s Alpine Slalom team, with Laurie Taylor finishing 12th and Billy Major 24th. With three Brits in the top-15 after the first run omens looked good for a strong showing, but course challenges saw a DNF for Dave Ryding while Taylor and Major both battled through to cement their top-30 standings.
Luca Carrick-Smith and Freddy Carrick-Smith both recorded first run DNFs in the Slalom and Giant Slalom respectively.
And the rest…
Ollie Davies was pick of the Brits in the Ski Cross Val Thorens World Cup finishing 21st in the second of the back-to-back World Cups, taking 46th in the first race. Scott Johns finished 53rd and 57th.
Fred Warburton and guide James Hannan were Britain’s only representatives in the Steinach Para Alpine World Cup, finishing 7th in Alpine Combined, 8th in the SG Speed Event, and 8th and 7th in back-to-back SG World Cups.
British pair dominate to secure fourth GBS podium of season
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale have won Team Snowboard Cross World Cup gold this morning in Cervinia, Italy.
The result marks Bankes and Nightingale’s third Team SBX World Cup medal and sits alongside their Gold medal at the 2023 World Championships as a fourth major podium for the pair.
The team qualified in second spot from their quarter final draw before taking first place in the semi-final stage to secure Big Finals qualification alongside Italy, France, and Germany.
Sitting in a strong third position after the men’s run of the Big Final, Charlotte Bankes then dominated the women’s run to seal victory with Italy second and France in third place. The Cervinia World Cup marked Bankes’ first appearance on snow after a major collarbone injury sustained at the end of last season.
GB Snowsport Head Coach, Pat Sharples, said:
“To see all the hard work from this summer’s training paying off from Huw as well as this being Charlotte’s first race back since injury, this was quite the victory!
“I could not be prouder of the whole team from the athletes to the whole coaching and performance team who’ve been working tirelessly to prepare for this. Exciting times moving forward.”
Snowboard Cross star undergoes successful surgery, will begin rehab shortly
In the course of a routine scan last week following the broken collarbone sustained by Charlotte Bankes in training at the end of last season, it was detected that the bone healing process hadn’t progressed as anticipated.
Following consultations between Charlotte, the medical team, and GB Snowsport performance staff, Charlotte underwent a successful surgical operation designed to help the bone consolidate. Charlotte and the team will now be focusing on supporting her recovery and rehabilitation, with a view to her returning to snow in the course of the coming months.
Speaking following surgery, Charlotte said:
“This was a very tough and unexpected blow, but thanks to the medical team that took care of me, everyone at GB Snowsport, as well as my family, the process has gone smoothly, and I believe it’s the best decision for me to be back at my best this winter.
“Now it’s time to focus on recovery and rehab, which I feel very confident will go well thanks to the amazing team around me, and the expertise and support from the Performance Rehabilitation Team at the IRU in Bisham. After this first step we will establish the best schedule for me to be ready to compete at 100% in February ”
The team at GB Snowsport are now focused on supporting Charlotte in her recovery, and look forward to seeing her back on snow this season.
Bankes and Nightingale, and Davies and Johns named in Snowboard and Ski Cross WC squads
Ollie Davies and Scott Johns, and Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale have been selected to the GB Snowsport’s Ski and Snowboard Cross World Cup squads for the 2025/26 season, with seven athletes selected to Europa Cup squads across the two disciplines.
The selection process sees Scott Johns named to the Ski cross World Cup squad for the first time, two seasons on from his World Cup debut. The 22-year-old achieved top 30 placings three times on last season’s World Cup circuit, in Arosa, Val di Fassa, and Gudauri.
Ollie Davies, meanwhile, will be bidding to secure a spot at Olympic Winter Games for the second time in his career, having made his Olympic debut in Beijing in 2022. Davies notched a pair of top 10 finishes in Arosa and Innichen in the 2024/25 season, with fifth place in the latter competition marking the second-best World Cup result of his career to date.
In Snowboard Cross, Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale will be looking to build on another successful campaign which saw Bankes secure five World Cup victories along with second place at World Championships, and Nightingale a career-best World Cup finish of 11th place in Mt. St. Anne, alongside a top 10 finish at World Championships. In the Team event, the pair also recorded their second ever World Cup podium with second place in the Erzurum World Cup in March 2025.
Both disciplines will also field Europa Cup squad athletes this season, with Max Vardy named to the Snowboard Cross EC squad, and Greg Baillie, Tommy Dade, Faith Davie, Emily Keen, Alannah Lawrie, and Andrew Wilson selected for Ski Cross.
GB Snowsport Performance Director, Kearnan Myall, said:
“Congratulations to each of our Ski and Snowboard Cross athletes on being selected to World Cup and Europa Cup squads for the coming season.
“The Cross disciplines have shown real strength over recent years, and our athletes have every chance of making the coming season a memorable one for British skiing and snowboarding.
“Athletes across both disciplines have worked exceptionally hard over the off-season period to put themselves in the best possible position to achieve success over the coming year, and we look forward to seeing that work translate into performances when the season gets underway.”
The Ski Cross World Cup season gets underway in Val Thorens on 9-11 December, with the first Snowboard Cross races in Cervinia on 19-21 December.
Full Squad Selections
Snowboard Cross World Cup squad
- Charlotte Bankes
- Huw Nightingale
Ski Cross World Cup squad
- Ollie Davies
- Scott Johns
Snowboard Cross Europa Cup Squad
- Max Vardy
Ski Cross Europa Cup squad
- Greg Baillie
- Tommy Dade
- Faith Davie
- Emily Keen
- Alannah Lawrie
- Andrew Wilson
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.
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.
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.