Para Alpine and Telemark stars top standings in Courchevel and Pinzolo
Neil Simpson and Rob Poth take top spot in Courchevel
Neil Simpson and Rob Poth secured Gold at the second GS World Cup of the week in Courchevel with a superb display of technical racing.
Coming in first at the turn, the pair battled a trickier second run but came through with the third fastest run time to secure Gold by a margin of 0.13s from Austria’s Johannes Aigner in second, with Giacomo Bertagnolli of Italy in third.
The result marks an outstanding return to competitive racing for Simpson after an extended period off snow last season, and a strong beginning to the Milan-Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games qualifying period.
Taylor continues Pinzolo dominance
Jaz Taylor’s reign as Telemark Crystal Globe holder got off to a confident start with a dominant victory in the season opening Sprint World cup in Pinzolo.
Taking the lead in the first run, Taylor’s finishing time of 2:36.26 was enough to take victory, coming in 1.40s ahead of Augustine Carliez and 1.62s from Camille Bourbon both of France.
Speaking afterwards, Taylor said:
“It’s a different feel coming into this season after last year, it’s a new challenge for me. I’m really pleased with my first race and hope to hold onto my form!“
Para Alpine and Telemark teams set for first World Cups, with busy calendar across six disciplines
Ski cross World Cups – Arosa and Innichen
Ollie Davies and Scott Johns will face their second and third World Cup contests of the season in a busy pre-season blast of European competition. After disappointment in the opening Val Thorens World Cup, Davies and Johns have both qualified for Finals in this evening’s Aroso World Cup, with both then making the cross-country journey to Innichen for races across 19-21 December.
Arosa and Innichen Ski Cross – British Line-Up:
- Ollie Davies
- Scott Johns
Alpine Slalom World Cup – Alta Badia
After a promising weekend of action in France, the Men’s Slalom team are headed for the Italian resort of Alta Badia for the final pre-Christmas World Cup of the season on 23 December. A tenth place from Dave Ryding in 2020 marks the best British World Cup result at the resort, where the team will be looking to build on an encouraging start to the 2024/25 Slalom calendar.
Alta Badia Slalom – British Line-Up:
- Billy Major
- Dave Ryding
- Laurie Taylor
Moguls World Cup – Bakuriani
Mateo Jeannesson marks the sole British entrant for the Bakuriani Moguls World Cup this weekend, bringing to a close the team’s pre-Christmas calendar. The competition will mark Jeannesson’s second visit to the Georgian resort following the 2023 World Championships, which saw him secure a brace of top-30 finishes.
Bakuriani Moguls – British Line-Up:
- Mateo Jeannesson
Halfpipe World Cup – Copper Mountain
A potential five-athlete line-up awaits for the first North American Halfpipe World Cups of the season, hosted at Copper Mountain. Zoe Atkin and Liam Richards are set for action in the Freeski competition, while Siddhartha Ullah, Aaron Wild, and potentially Gidget Holden (if a late entry spot becomes available) will step up in the Freestyle Snowboard contest.
Copper Mountain Halfpipe – British Line-Up:
- Zoe Atkin (Freeski)
- Gidget Holden* (Freestyle Snowboard)
- Liam Richards (Freeski)
- Siddhartha Ullah (Freestyle Snowboard)
- Aaron Wild (Freestyle Snowboard)
Para Alpine GS World Cup – Courchevel
Neil Simpson and Guide Rob Poth are set for their first action of the season with a double-header GS World Cup across 19-20 December. The iconic French resort of Courchevel will mark its first instance hosting a Para Alpine World Cup, with a strong field expected to compete.
Courchevel Para alpine GS – British Line-Up:
- Neil Simpson and Rob Poth
Telemark Sprint World Cup – Pinzolo
The first Telemark World Cup races of the season will see reigning Crystal Globe holder Jaz Taylor looking to pick up where she left off last season, as part of a five athlete British line-up featuring three World Cup debutants. Matthew Deane, Hamish Ross, and Josh Wisbey will make the first World Cup level starts, with Jamie Dykes rounding out the British line-up for the traditional season openers.
Pinzolo Telemark Sprint – BRitish Line-Up:
- Matthew Deane
- Jamie Dykes
- Hamish Ross
- Jaz Taylor
- Josh Wisbey
How to Watch:
Alpine, Ski Cross, Moguls and Halfpipe action will all be available for broadcast in the UK on Eurosport, while the Courchevel Para Alpine World Cup races are due to be streamed via the Courchevel website.
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.
Seven athletes in World Cup Squad and four in Development Squad ahead of World Championships season
GB Snowsport have confirmed the names of eleven athletes selected to represent Britain in international Telemark competitions in the coming season.
A seven-athlete World Cup Squad, headed by reigning dual Crystal Globe holder Jaz Taylor, will be joined by a four-athlete Development Team who will compete with the opportunity to qualify for World Cup races across the course of the season.
Joining Taylor in the World Cup Squad line-up will be Matthew Deane, Colin Dixon, James Dykes, Timote Gough, Hamish Ross, and Matt White, while the Development Squad comprises Ben Emsley, Magnus McIntosh, Bonnie Price, and Josh Wisbey.
Last year saw British skiing history made with Taylor taking the Overall and Sprint Crystal Globes, while there were promising performances for a number of the World Cup Squad. The 2024/25 World Cup calendar is slated to begin on 19-21 December in Pinzolo, Italy, with World Championships scheduled for 17-23 March in Les Contamines Montjoie.
Full Squad Selections
World Cup Squad
- Matthew Deane
- Colin Dixon
- James Dykes
- Timote Gough
- Hamish Ross
- Jasmin Taylor
- Matt White
Development Team
- Ben Emsley
- Magnus McIntosh
- Bonnie Price
- Josh Wisbey
Fresh from her double Crystal Globe winning season, we sat down with Telemark sensation, Jaz Taylor, to get her insight into a history-making year
Britain loves an underdog story. British sport, in particular, loves an underdog story. There’s something about the idea of an athlete triumphing against the odds that seems particularly well-suited to the British psyche.
That being the case, it’s no surprise that Jaz Taylor is currently surfing a wave of love from the British snowsport community. After all, Britain surely isn’t supposed to produce double Crystal Globe winning skiers, particularly given Telemark skiing doesn’t qualify for public funding due to its omission from the Olympic Winter Games programme.
And yet, here we are.
For those who’ve met her, probably one of the first things that comes to mind when talking about Taylor is a humility that seems at odds with the scale of her achievement. So, how does it feel to be the centre of attention?
“I think people have recognised what this means to me, and that’s been really nice,” she says. “I guess, with Telemark not being an Olympic discipline, we never really expect to get that sort of profile, so to have people realising what this means and that others are enjoying it, like my coaching team and beyond, it really means a lot.”
And those celebrations are more than justified, with Taylor securing both the Sprint and the Overall Crystal Globes for the 2023/24 Telemark season, the first in a career that’s seen her finish runner up in Overall, Sprint, Classic, and Parallel Sprint standings over the past decade. It’s a weight of pressure that she openly acknowledges got into her head at various points of the season.
“Going into those final races, I was definitely stressed,” she laughs. “I really, really wanted it [the Overall Globe]. I’d put myself in a good position after the Livigno races, but I wasn’t safe, so it wasn’t easy to sleep, wasn’t easy to eat. You’re trying so hard to stay focused, but of course it ends up in your mind, and your brain’s just going through all of these circumstances, and the more you try to push it away, the more those thoughts come.”
Finding the resolve to get past it took some close support, and a fairytale ending.
“My family actually came out for the last races,” Taylor says, “so in the end it was kind of a fairytale because my mum and dad, my partner, my grandma were all there, and they provided a really good, positive distraction. Just at that time, I was so happy to see them and have them there with me, and that just gave me the positive distraction I needed to get out of my head a little bit.”
Taylor secured the Sprint Globe the week before after the penultimate round of races in Italy, but needed a result in the very last race of the season, the Parallel Sprint, to secure her place at the top of the Overall standings.
“It all came down to the final Parallel Sprint,” she explains, “and I’m very hit-and-miss with Parallel. Sometimes I’ll do really well, sometimes I won’t, and I was just thinking ‘oh my god, everything’s resting on this race’.
“I know it’s more my perception than anything, but with Parallel I always feel like I can’t control the outcome as much as I can in other events, and before qualification we’d worked out that I had to finish sixth if Goril [Strom Eriksen, who was sitting second in the Overall standings] won, and Parallel’s her strongest event. I didn’t want to leave anything to chance, so to put myself in a really good position I knew I needed to win or come second in qualifiers.”
It was a situation that created an almost impossible level of stress for Taylor and her team.
“I was with my teammates before the start, and it was almost funny because there was so much pressure there. It almost became a bit of a joke, because in that moment something just lifted in my mind, and I remember thinking to myself ‘this is daft, you can’t take this as seriously as all that’.”
Whatever mental adjustments she was able to make worked, because Taylor flew through qualification and left herself needing only to finish the first round of the Parallel Finals to secure victory.
“I passed the finish line ahead and won the first heat, and that was the moment I knew I’d secured the Overall Globe. I was on the lift going back up, and my coach Seb was on the side in coach’s corner, and I said to him ‘Seb, I think I’ve done it’, and he’s like, ‘yep, yep, you’ve done it’. I just said to him, ‘so what do I do now?’ and he looked at me and said, ‘Jaz, I don’t care!’. It ended up being probably the strangest race of my life, because I just felt like everything fell into place for me. I was totally relaxed, skiing, and having fun with my teammates.”
It ended up giving Taylor her only Parallel Sprint victory of the season, alongside four Sprint discipline World Cup victories, and a further six World Cup podiums.
The seeds for the Overall crown were sown in the first weeks of the season, where Taylor rattled off a scarcely believable four consecutive Sprint victories to pull away from the field in the season’s first four World Cup races. For Taylor, though, it was the prelude to a real struggle.
“At the start of the season I was quite relaxed, I think, but going into the Norwegian and Swiss races, things started to unravel for me a bit,” she recalls.
“We had some racing in Switzerland, and I had a big crash in qualification in the Parallel, and ended up not putting a single point on the board that day. I think that’s the moment I realised that the stress was getting to me, because my first thought wasn’t for my health, but for the points, and it just hammered home for me how much I wanted the Overall title this year.”
Pulling out of the spiral was a real battle.
“After Norway, my lead in the Overall was 23 points, so as far as I was concerned I might as well have lost the lead. It was as good as being back at the start of the season again, and I was just thinking ‘I’ve blown it’.”
In the end, a reset with her coach provided the impetus to make the final charge for the title.
“I had a week off, just really took some time for myself, and then got back into training and I’d be there questioning everything, like ‘am I skiing well, am I jumping well, is my skating good?’, and Seb helped me to just try to forget about controlling every single part, and focus on the intention. Get from gate to gate. Move down the hill. Forget about everything else, and focus on the approach.”
The approach paid dividends, as a set of dominant performances in Livigno (yielding two podiums in Sprint and a further in Classic) were followed by those final two podiums in Pra Loup, confirming the Sprint and Overall Globes would end the season in Taylor’s hands, sparking huge celebrations around Taylor and further afield.
“The reaction has just been so lovely,” she says. “My family and my coach cried, and seeing all the responses from people on social media and just everywhere around you. All the restaurant workers, the people working the lifts all saying ‘well done’ or being out at the GB Alpine Championships [where Taylor foreran the GS race] and having all these people I’d not seen for maybe 10, 15 years saying congratulations, then you’re like ‘ah wow, okay, this means something to people’. That’s really what leaves me with a good feeling now.”
Jaz and the GB Telemark team are running a crowdfunder to support the team’s on-going plans and the future of BRitish telemark. Find out more here
Telemark star seals first globes of career with 11th podium of the season
Jaz Taylor secured the Telemark Overall and Sprint Crystal Globes with a series of stunning performances at World Cup Finals in Pra Loup.
Second place in the Sprint and first in Parallel Sprint gave Taylor unassailable leads in both rankings in a season that has delivered a remarkable eleven World Cup podiums, including five victories.
Taylor, who has previously taken second place in the Overall, Classic, Sprint, and Parallel Sprint standings has been in dominant form since the beginning of the season, winning four consecutive World Cup races from the beginning of the season to establish an unassailable position in the rankings.
Second place in Livigno Sprint World Cup keeps skier at top of Telemark standings
Jaz Taylor added her seventh World Cup podium of a remarkable season with second place at the Livigno Telemark Sprint World Cup this afternoon.
Having recorded four victories in Italy in the opening months of the season, Taylor once again demonstrated her mastery of the Sprint discipline in a superb race that placed her second in the standings between the French pair of Angeline Tan Bouquet in first and Camille Bourbon in third.
The result keeps Taylor in top spot in the overall season standings with 754 points, 53 ahead of Norway’s Goril Strom Eriksen, and a full 185 points clear in the Sprint standings, with Eriksen again in second position.
With three races to complete at the Livigno World Cup, the Telemark season then moves quickly to World Cup Finals in Pra Loup between 17-22 March.
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.
Mia Brookes and Zoe Atkin brought their A Games to X Games 2024, while there were Para Alpine podiums to celebrate in Veysonnaz
Brookes and Atkin take Gold and Silver in Aspen
Mia Brookes and Zoe Atkin continued Britain’s proud record at X Games with medals in Freestyle Snowboard Slopestyle and Freeski Superpipe at the 2024 edition of the contest.
Brookes, the second youngest athlete at the invitational event, got the Games off to a stunning start with victory in the Women’s Freestyle competition. Such was Brookes’ dominance of the event that any of her three runs would have scored highly enough to take victory, with flawless rail sections, a Cab 12 on her highest scoring run, and a Cab 14 on her final run.
In the Women’s Freeski Superpipe, Zoe Atkin delivered a super clean display of Halfpipe skiing that included the highest amplitude recorded on the night to take Silver behind Eileen Gu, and back up the Gold medal that she won at X Games 2023.
British interest rounded out with a solid fourth place finish for Brookes in the Freestyle Snowboard Big Air competition.
Fitzpatrick and Guest take Para Alpine Podiums in Veysonnaz
Menna Fitzpatrick and Katie Guest added two more World Cup podiums and two FIS podium to their season tally in a busy week of competition in Veysonnaz. Bronze medals in World Cup Giant Slalom and Super G races were followed with Gold and Silver in FIS Super G competitions to round out a successful week of racing in the Swiss resort.
In the Women’s Seated classification, Shona Brownlee was also in action with a pair of fifth place finishes.
Taylor adds fifth podium of season in Melchsee-Frutt
Jaz Taylor’s remarkable Telemark World Cup campaign continued with a fifth podium of the season in the Melchsee-Frutt Classic World Cup. With third place in the first of the weekend’s competition, Taylor secured her first Classic podium since March 2022, further consolidating top spot in the Telemark overall rankings, where she sits 135 points clear of France’s Lily Chaucheprat. In the Men’s competition, Timote Gough was also in action, with 14th place in the Classic the pick of his results.
And the rest…
In Ski Cross, Ollie Davies made it through to the 1/8 Finals stages at the St. Moritz World Cup to take 20th spot while Scott Johns, on World Cup debut, finished in 58th place. The St. Moritz Snowboard Cross World Cup saw Charlotte Bankes finish just outside the top-10 with an 11th place finish, while Huw Nightingale took 55th spot.
In Moguls, Makayla Gerken Schofield continued their comeback from a knee injury with 22nd place in the Waterville World Cup, while Mateo Jeannesson finished 24th in the Dual Moguls event.
In Cross-Country, James Clugnet sealed his best World Cup result of the season with 20th place in the Sprint F World Cup in Goms and 26th in the 20km F Mass Start, with Andrew Musgrave finishing 12th in the latter.