GB Snowsport

21 GB Snowsport selected to compete for Team GB at Beijing Olympic Winter Games

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has today announced the 18 skiers and three snowboarders selected to represent Team GB at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

GB Snowsport athletes will represent the nation in nine disciplines during the Games, with nine athletes selected for Team GB for the first time.

For the remaining twelve squad members, Beijing will mark a return to the Olympic Winter Games, with Alpine skier, Dave Ryding, and Nordic skiers Andrew Musgrave and Andrew Young each set to appear in their fourth Olympic Winter Games.

Reigning Snowboard Cross World Champion, Charlotte Bankes, and Sochi 2014 silver medallist, Gus Kenworthy, will each be competing in their third Olympic Winter Games, but their first for Team GB, Bankes having represented France in 2014 and 2018, and Kenworthy the USA.

The athletes head to Beijing in excellent form, with promising early season results across all disciplines and, in Bankes, a reigning World Champion and current World Cup points leader in Snowboard Cross.

The 11 male and 10 female athletes selected will be looking to build on Britain’s recent successes in international ski and snowboard competition, which includes five FIS, Europa Cup and World Cup podium positions from this season alone.

GB Snowsport Olympic Team Manager, Sophie Morrison, said:

“Today’s squad announcement is an exciting moment for everybody connected to GB Snowsport, for each athlete selected, their friends and families, and for the country as a whole. This was the most competitive selection process that a British skiing and snowboarding team has ever undergone, and every athlete selected richly deserves their place on the team. This is also an important moment to acknowledge the incredible efforts of those athletes who missed out on selection, but whose performances on snow and in training have helped push all of us to raise our game in readiness for Beijing.”

Vicky Gosling, GB Snowsport Chief Executive, also paid tribute to the selected athletes, saying:

“Whatever the outcome in the coming weeks, this is an incredibly exciting squad, and every athlete selected deserves huge congratulations for their efforts to reach this point. We are enormously grateful to UK Sport, the National Lottery, the British Olympic Association, and all our supporters and partners for their backing over the past few years and for helping us prepare such a richly talented squad for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

“I would also like to pay tribute to the work of all our coaches, physios, sport scientists, technicians, support and admin staff, and every other team member who has helped prepare the team for the Olympic Winter Games. The strength of this squad is a testament to all the hard work which has gone on behind the scenes over the past four years.”

GB Snowsport Head Coach, Pat Sharples, added:

“I’m so proud of every single athlete who’s been selected for the Olympic Winter Games squad today. Behind every name on this list is a huge amount of hard work, determination, and commitment, and every single squad member really deserves their place.

“It’s true, though, that the hard work is only just beginning. The next few weeks are going to be a huge challenge, but we back every athlete on this squad to do themselves and their country proud in Beijing.”

Georgie Harland, Team GB Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games Chef de Mission, said:

“With just two weeks to go until the Beijing 2022 Olympic Ceremony I am delighted to welcome the 21 ski and snowboard athletes selected today to Team GB, for our final sport team announcement.

It is great to see representation across more disciplines than we have taken to a Games before and equally fantastic mix of both youth and experience as we welcome nine Olympic debutants to the team.

The squad has proved themselves to be extremely competitive on the world stage over the past few seasons and I look forward to seeing them perform on the Olympic stage in just a couple weeks’ time.”

Dave Ryding, Alpine World Cup squad member and three-time Olympian, said:

“It’s such a huge honour to be named as part of Team GB again, and I can’t wait to get out there and get racing. As athletes, we take all our competitions seriously, but there’s something undeniably special about representing the country at an Olympic Games.

“This is a really exciting time for British skiing and snowboarding, and like the whole squad I’m looking forward to giving my all in Beijing.”

full list of GB Snowsport athletes selected to represent Team GB in Beijing:

Alpine:

Men’s

Women’s

Freestyle Ski:

Aerials

Moguls – Men’s

Moguls – Women’s

Ski Cross

Freeski Halfpipe – Men’s

Freeski Halfpipe – Women’s

Freeski Slopestyle & Big Air – Men’s

Freeski Slopestyle & Big Air – Women’s

Cross Country

Snowboard

Snowboard Cross – Men’s

Snowboard Cross – Women’s

Snowboard Slopestyle & Big Air

* denotes athlete selected for Team GB for the first time

Ahead of the World PAra Snow Sports Championships, we take a look at what to expect from the British squad in Norway

The World Para Snow Sports Championships, which get underway this week in Lillehammer, Norway, marks the biggest Para Snow Sports competition in the country since the 1994 Paralympic Winter Games.

GB Snowsport has named its largest ever squad for a World Para Snow Sports Championships, with 18 athletes and 5 guides travelling out for the competition.

Who’s in the squad?

The GB team was named on 23 December, and contains a mix of experienced World Championships athletes and some of the most exciting new names in world Para Snowsport.

PARA ALPINE

  • Shona Brownlee
  • Menna Fitzpatrick (Guide: Katie Guest)
  • Millie Knight (Guide: Brett Wild)
  • Neil Simpson (Guide: Andrew Simpson)
  • Dan Sheen
  • Alex Slegg
  • James Whitley
  • Adam Hall (Supporting Guide)
  • Gary Smith (Supporting Guide)

PARA NORDIC

  • Steve Arnold
  • Callum Deboys
  • Hope Gordon
  • Scott Meenagh
  • Steve Thomas

PARA SNOWBOARD

  • James Barnes-Miller
  • Jon-Allan Butterworth
  • Ollie Hill
  • Andy MacLeod
  • Owen Pick
  • Nina Sparks

When does it get underway?

Competition starts on 13 January, with Para Alpine Downhill and Cross Country Middle Distance. The Para Snowboard programme gets underway on 14 January with the Dual Banked Slalom races.

How have the preparations gone?

GB’s Para Snowsport squad have already put down some impressive results this season, with Alex Slegg, Shona Brownlee, Menna Fitzpatrick, Millie Knight, Neil Simpson, and James Barnes-Miller all notching podium finishes in World Cup competitions ahead of the Championships.

The Para Nordic squad have also been on good form, and are benefiting from their first season in the new Williams Advanced Engineering designed sit-ski rigs which were unveiled late last year.

How can I watch the Events?

All Para Alpine, Para Nordic and Para Snowboard events will be streamed live on the World Para Snow Sports Facebook page: www.facebook.com/parasnowsports and live links will be available via the International Paralympic Committee’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/c/paralympics

Where can I find out more?

The official Championships website has all the latest information, including details on all of the events, at www.paralympic.org/lillehammer-2021

We’ll be bringing you news of British performances and results as soon as we get them across GB Snowsport’s social media channels.

Header Image: James Barnes-Miller at the Paracross World Cup, Pyha, 2021

GB Snowsport Chief Executive, Vicky Gosling, looks at what’s to come in an exciting year for British skiing and snowboarding

Like everybody involved in high-performance winter sports, I’ve had 2022 circled in my calendar for what feels like a lifetime. And while the past two years have been dominated by talk of covid-19 and its impact on what an Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will look like, for most of us involved in the effort to bring British athletes to the competitions, the focus has never wavered.

What that doesn’t mean, though, is that our entire focus is on what happens in Beijing over the next few months. 2022 is shaping up to be an incredibly exciting year for snowsport in Britain and while the Olympics and Paralympics are a key part of that, they’re far from the only reason to be enthused.

Already this season, we’ve seen some exceptional results and performances from British athletes in competitions across the world. Some of our household name athletes – athletes like Charlotte Bankes, Zoe Atkin, Dave Ryding, Menna Fitzpatrick, Charlie Guest, Andrew Musgrave, Kirsty Muir, Chris McCormick – have been leading the way, but we’ve got reason to feel extremely excited by some of the coming generation too.

Reece Bell’s World Cup debut brought a real sense of excitement, along with the very welcome sight of a member of the Bell family once again racing World Cups in British colours. Nina Sparks and Shona Brownlee have both delivered some astonishing performances in the Para Snowboard and Para Alpine squads. Max Vaughton has transferred to Ski Cross as if he was born for the discipline. Mani Cooper is looking like one of the nation’s brightest sporting prospects. Connie Brogden’s back on snow and looking the part again. Mia Brookes catches the attention every single time she competes.

Those performances from some of our newer and younger athletes are an indication of what we’re trying to build, and why this year is so important. We want to harness the enthusiasm that people have for snowsport and turn it into a powerful tool to capture the next generation’s attention, and we want to do it in a way that’s sustainable for the future.

We want to work more closely with the country’s Home Nations Governing Bodies on a host of areas – from pipeline to diversity and sustainability – to ensure the country has a purposeful, integrated approach to skiing and snowboarding.

And we want to foster a culture that makes snowsport the most welcoming place for athletes, coaches, staff and supporters to compete and work as their authentic selves, in a way that reflects 21st century Britain.

All of these are reasons to be excited in 2022 that extend far beyond the reach of the coming Games.

Returning for a moment to thoughts of Beijing, though, we do need to accept that these will be a Winter Games like no other. The experiences of our summer counterparts in Tokyo last year can provide some indication, but whether it’s first-time Olympians and Paralympians, or those who’ve represented the nation in Vancouver, Sochi, or PyeongChang, the experience is going to be very different to what might have been expected just a couple of years ago. And, like every country participating, we can’t escape the shadow of covid. It’s highly possible that some athletes will find the spread of covid impacts their Games preparation or, worse still, prevents them from participating at all. That’s not a situation we want to confront, but it’s one that we must be prepared for anyway.

We know that the eyes of the country will be on our sport and our athletes in the coming months in a way we rarely get to experience it. It’s right that we’re excited about that, and it’s the reason that 2022 has been marked in my calendar for such a long time now.

But the biggest reasons for excitement are the ones that point beyond Beijing, to an ever more successful future for British skiers and snowboarders, and all that we can achieve together.

Throughout the 2021/22 Season, GB Snowsport and Redrow will be finding out where it all began for some of Britain’s top athletes and coaches as they prepare for and compete in one of the biggest snowsport seasons in recent memory.

ANDREW SIMPSON IS A FULL TIME PARA ALPINE GUIDE FOR GB SNOWSPORT, CURRENTLY GUIDING his brother Neil Simpson

I was born in… Aberdeen in March 2000

I got into skiing… at an age of 5 at Aberdeen Snowsport Centre, close to my home. Unfortunately, I managed to break my arm during the first block of lessons but recovered quickly after only 6 weeks! 

I started my skiing career… with a local race club called Gordon Skiers training at Alford on a dry slope

I started my career as a guide… when my brother (Neil Simpson) was classified for VI skiing

I also work… with Neil and our dad on our family business when we are at home

I felt the proudest when… we managed to get our first World Cup podium after a long chase. Shortly after we won our first podium, we topped the excitement with our first World Cup gold medal 

I am also proud of… my achievements outside of skiing in other sports, especially sailing, as well as getting into university

When I am travelling I most miss… the comfort of my own bed and my family

I enjoy… the company of my brother and staying in touch with my family while traveling the World Cup circuit 

I am grateful for… the opportunity to compete for GB Snowsport. A positive team environment and excellent coaching has allowed us to achieve outstanding results

I stay well rested by… having a dark and quiet room with a comfortable pillow. I am also a fan of homely comfort foods; you can’t beat a freshly cooked batch of lasagne!

I consider… Ted Ligety and Lindsey Vonn as my biggest role models and inspiration while growing up, and recently it has been a pleasure and motivation to watch British athletes like Dave Ryding and Alex Tilley achieve such amazing results

I am also thankful… to our parents for being supportive throughout our journey as we would not be able to achieve this without them

I stayed fit during lockdown… by managing to order equipment just before lockdown started. A squat rack and weights have managed to keep us both fit and training as normal

I enjoy… spending time with our dog after getting back home. As they say, “home is where the heart is”, for me this translates to spending time with my family

I relax the most when… I am in my room listening to music

I like to hang… pictures of us from our travels and races as a home décor in our house

I think… that training with my brother has certainly strengthened our bond and taught us how to work closely together. We used to be very competitive when we were younger but now we have learned how to bring the best out of each other

My advice for young athletes is… join your local race club and be consistent. Joining your local club will provide loads of fun racing opportunities to test your abilities

One of three Moguls skiing siblings, Makayla Gerken Schofield talks to us about switching off, building tricks, and what it’s like to support her siblings on the slopes

“You know the movie, There’s Only One Jimmy Grimble?” Makayla Gerken Schofield, the British Moguls skier, is trying to describe how it feels to be at the top of the slope just before the beginning of a run, and we’re onto a turn-of-the-millennium British film about a Manchester City loving youngster. “There’s a scene where he’s standing the middle of the football pitch and, in his mind he says ‘Jimmy Grimble: kakking his pants!’ – that’s me!”, she laughs, before elaborating. “Honestly, it’s an adrenaline rush. I just wanna hit the course! You’ll normally see me bobbing around to my music, focusing on having fun and, hopefully, be happy with how I skied.”

Talking to Gerken Schofield, you get a sense of constant energy, which is perhaps important for a discipline that involves highly technical skiing, gravity-defying jumps, and courses where the gradient is steep enough that competitors are moving at serious speed from the off. The youngest of three Moguls skiing siblings (her older brother and sister, Thomas and Leonie, are twins), she’s entering her fourth year on the World Cup stage at just 22 years old. How does she think she’s changed since making her World Cup debut?

“I think coming out was a big change for me”, she says, having come out as pansexual in 2020. “I feel more free to be myself, and who I am as a person. It gave me a shift in skiing with my confidence, and I found I was having more fun with it.”

And the results showed, with Gerken Schofield breaking into the top-10 three times in World Cup competitions last season. “I think in those moments I managed to switch mentally that fire that I had in me, and the feeling of determination and just wanting to give it my all. I didn’t focus on the result; I focused on what I had to do first, because at the end of the day that’s the only thing I can control.”

As well as that freedom to be herself, Makayla’s bond with her siblings is a vital part in what makes her such a successful athlete. “I love my siblings to bits,” she says, “we push each other constantly to do better, whether that’s training at home in the gym, or being on skis.” And it’s not just the technical aspects where the siblings’ support for one another is on show. “We’re always there for one another when things do get rough, and although we tend to allow each other to do our thing in to be in the moment, I’ll always give them a hug and remind them to have fun before their run.”

When it comes to acting as the spectator, any sense of calm vanishes. “Watching them is a whole other story!”, Gerken Schofield explains. “I get so nervous, but in a good way! You’ll see me jumping around quite a lot to release the nerves. I’m just super proud of them, no matter what.”

While she’s making a name for herself at the top end of Moguls skiing, away from the slopes Gerken Schofield finds her recovery time is better served disconnecting from the sport. “Weirdly, as an athlete, I don’t tend to follow that much sport actually,” she explains. “When I’m not training or competing, I like to zone out of the skiing world a bit, but it can be tricky because I struggle a lot with the planning. As athletes, we kind of have everything planned out for us in a way, like with training camps and competitions, you’ve got your scheduled times. Planning what to do with your days around that can be tough.”

Perhaps it’s not unhelpful, then, that Moguls requires a lot of time and focus from its athletes. “There’s a lot of repetitions of jumps! When you’re developing a new trick, we start by doing specific exercises on dry land, before progressing them onto a trampoline. Once we’re comfortable enough, and once we’ve got the go-ahead from the coaches, we’ll take it onto the Water Ramps and keep practicing it there. Once it feels good, that’s when we can try to put it down on the snow.”

It’s an approach which isn’t without its challenges, but then that’s Moguls through and through. And with the siblings all back in World Cup action already this season, you can be confident the Gerken Schofields are going to continue making their mark on the sport.

Makayla Gerken Schofield biography

  • Born: 1999
  • Discipline: Moguls
  • Squad: World Cup Squad
  • Hometown: Chatel, France
  • Top Result: 6th, Deer Valley World Cup Dual Moguls, February 2021

British athletes were in competition across the globe this weekend, with standout results in Cross-Country Team Sprint, Para Alpine, Para Snowboarding and Alpine

Andrew Young and James Clugnet delivered the best ever Nordic result for British athletes coming sixth in the Team Sprint at the Cross-Country World Cup in Dresden this weekend. The pair secured their final spot with a second-place semi-final finish, and kept momentum with the leading pack through the final, finishing 3.84s behind the winning Norwegian team of Thomas Helland Larsen and Even Northug. The British pair’s final time of 14:23.18 saw them finish comfortably ahead of the Swiss team, whose 14:30.11 was enough for seventh spot.

The Para Snowsport squad continued their excellent early season form with another medal-laden week of competition. The GB Para Alpine National Championships & Europa Cup races in Steinach am Brenner, Austria, saw Menna Fitzpatrick and guide Katie Guest pick up two gold medals, Millie Knight and Brett Wild take two silvers, Neil Simpson and Andrew Simpson two golds, and Shona Brownlee a silver and a bronze. Neil Simpson went on to collect an additional gold and silver along with guide Andrew Simpson at the World Cup GS in St Moritz.

Owen Pick returned to Copper Mountain, Colorado, to grab a silver medal at Dew Tour 2021 in Adaptive Snowboard Slalom, finishing just behind Finland’s Matti Suur-Hamari, with John Leslie of Canada in third. Nina Sparks also continued the blistering start to her GB Para Snowboard career, grabbing silver and gold medals at Europa Cup Hochfugen, and earning a wild card entry to the World Cup races, where she came in eighth on her World Cup debut.

Britain’s Alpine squad also saw some fine results across the globe this weekend. At Val di Fassa, a Europa Cup line-up stacked with World Cup talent saw Britain’s Laurie Taylor secure an excellent 8th place finish in his first Europa Cup appearance of the season. Charlie Raposo took 11th in the Europa Cup Gungezer after a storming first run that saw him in third place, while Reece Bell bagged her best ever NorAm Cup result with a superb second place in Panorama, BC, smashing her previous top finish, an eighth place at Copper Mountain last month.

Max Vaughton, meanwhile, announced his move into Ski Cross in spectacular fashion, finishing eighth in only his second ever Ski Cross race at the Val Thorens Europa Cup. Vaughton, who until the beginning of the season was racing for the British Alpine squad, came through the pack to bank a remarkable top-10 finish less than a month after making his competitive Ski Cross debut.

Back in Copper Mountain, Zoe Atkin took a brilliant seventh place at Dew Tour 2021 in the Superpipe where sister, Izzy, suffered injury misfortune, sustaining a broken pelvis in competition. Kirsty Muir also banked an excellent seventh place in Ski Slopestyle.

In Snowboard Cross, Charlotte Bankes’ season continued in fine style with another World Cup top-10 in Cervinia, her ninth-place finish coming after qualifying in first position. Maisie Potter finished in 21st, just missing out on the finals.

Makayla Gerken Schofield grabbed her first top-20 finishes of the season with a 12th place finish in Single Moguls and 20th spot in the Dual Moguls at World Cup Alpe d’Huez. In the men’s competition, Mateo Jeannesson secured his first ever World Cup points, coming 23rd in the Dual Moguls, with Will Feneley also banking World Cup points, finishing in 27th spot, a result which Feneley equalled in the Single Moguls.

In Seefeld, Austria, Mani Cooper grabbed a personal best ski jump of 81 metres at the iconic course.

The weekly GB Snowsport results summary is presented in association with Snow+Rock

Header Image: James Clugnet, World Cup Dresden. GEPA pictures/ Philipp Brem

Kearnan Myall, GB Snowsport Human Performance Lead and former professional rugby player, explains the rationale behind the new snowsport head injuries management protocols

It probably feels, for a lot of people, like public discussion around head injuries and concussion in sport is a relatively new thing. Revelations from football, American Football, and my former sport, Rugby Union, have seen a heightened level of press and public awareness – sadly, too often linked to the tragic consequences of traumatic head injuries sustained by athletes.

In truth, the existence of risks around head injuries have been known for decades. It’s only in recent years though, with scientific advances in neuroimaging, that the body of evidence around different forms of head injuries, and different sport-specific conditions have allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of what happens to an athlete when these injuries are sustained.

Skiing and snowboarding may not be the first sports that come to mind when a person thinks about head injuries; contact sports such as boxing and rugby, and those involving regular use of the head – heading in football, for example – have seen far greater awareness about the risks of injury over the past few years. But within skiing and snowboarding, at all levels, mild traumatic brain injuries are actually one of the most commonly reported injuries in the sport.

Improving our athletes’ and coaches’ understanding of the risks associated with head injuries, and their ability to identify them, is key to optimising the medical support we provide. For example, only 1 in 10 concussions results in loss of consciousness, and we know from Rugby Union that the introduction of head injury education helped increase the identification of concussions by three-fold in the following seasons.

This led us to the introduction of new Head Injury Management protocols across all our disciplines. We’ve seen from other sports how serious the effects of repeated head injuries can be, and those are the precise things that none of us wants to see repeated in skiing and snowboarding.

And the truth is, some very fine snowsport athletes have also experienced the seriousness of head injuries, and taken action for the good of their long-term health.

For athletes the risk of injury is an ever present and unavoidable occupational hazard. Speaking as a former professional sportsman myself, you accept these risks, with the understanding that you will be given the best treatment available should the worst happen. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case with regards to head injuries, as the negative consequences are not always immediately apparent. It is imperative, therefore, that our protocols and support systems align with the gold standard medical evidence, even when this means removing an athlete from training and competition for what might be deemed only a ‘minor’ knock.

I understand all too well, from being in the position myself, that it can be deeply frustrating to be told you can’t train or compete due to an injury that you feel isn’t having a major bearing on you. The instinct to dust yourself down and get on with it is a very human one, and is to be expected with elite athletes. Head injuries can be particularly difficult to self-monitor though, not least because some symptoms may not make themselves apparent for up to a week after the injury is sustained. It’s for that reason that we, as a Governing Body, have to take those decisions out of the hands of athletes.

From a performance perspective, once an athlete has sustained a mild traumatic brain injury, they are nearly three times more likely to suffer a physical injury, or a further compounding head injury, so it’s in everyone’s interest for them to recover fully before returning to snow. Introducing these new protocols won’t be a panacea for head injuries in our sport. We are actively seeking investment for snowsport specific head injury research, and are lobbying stakeholders throughout our sport to bring their guidance in line with the latest research. As our understanding of head injuries increases we’ll adjust our protocols and medical care accordingly.

The medical and sports science that sits behind the development of these new measures is something we can be proud of, and the hope is that it will offer reassurance to athletes, coaches, families, and fans of skiing and snowboarding too. We want to make sure we are offering every available support option to strengthen the sport now and in the years to come.

Header Image: Kearnan Myall during his professional rugby career

New report highlights need to focus on supporting diversity & inclusion at every level of snowsport

GB Snowsport and the Home Nations Snowsport Governing Bodies, Snowsport England, Snowsport Scotland, and Snowsport Wales, are pleased today to publish the findings from diversity and inclusion surveying conducted in early 2021.

The report, which is also informed by wide-ranging discussions between the Governing Bodies through the previously announced Snowsport D&I Advisory Group, highlights significant backing from snowsport fans and participants for a greater focus on enhancing diversity and inclusion within the sport. Findings drawn from two surveys commissioned earlier this year demonstrate that, while snowsport has seen some positive developments around diversity and inclusion, there are clear areas for further development which stand to strengthen the sport’s resilience in years to come.

Among the key findings, the report’s findings show that one-in-five people have experienced or witnessed discrimination in snowsport settings, with disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, non-white people, and people from religious minorities all more likely to have experienced those challenges than the overall snowsport audience. The overall snowsport audience is also revealed to be unrepresentative of the UK population, with survey respondents more likely to be white, male, older, and more affluent than the general public as a whole.

Despite highlighting D&I challenges for the sport, the research also reveals that more than half of snowsport fans and participants support commitments to work more proactively to enhance diversity and inclusion in snowsport, revealing clear public backing for continued and new D&I initiatives.

Writing in the report, the Chief Executives of the nation’s four Snowsport Governing Bodies set out their commitment to continue working together to bring about progress in diversity and inclusion in snowsport, and highlighting the clear benefits of working collaboratively to achieve greater diversity.

The report comes at an important time for sport in Britain with recent updates to the UK Sport and Sport England strategies, as well as the Code for Sports Governance, all highlighting the importance of sport working to better reflect the makeup of Britain’s population in 2021.

Download the full report here

Charlotte Bankes, Dave Ryding and James Barnes-Miller led the way as British skiers and snowboarders banked some big results in a busy weekend of snowsport action

Charlotte Bankes continued her hot streak of form with a gold medal in the Montafon Snowboard Cross World Cup on Friday. Having qualified in first position, Bankes crossed the finishing line ahead of Australian Belle Brockhoff and France’s Chloé Trespeuch to take a superb win. Bankes’ victory saw her top the World Cup podium for the fifth time in her career, and means that each of her previous four World Cup races has seen her take a podium finish. Britain’s Maisie Potter finished in 36th spot.

In the men’s competition in Montafon, Huw Nightingale banked an excellent 28th place finish, having qualified for the final on his World Cup debut, his first race since finishing 4th at the World Junior Championships in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

In Alpine, Dave Ryding’s first World Cup race of the season, in Val d’Isère, saw him bank his best World Cup finish on the French course with an outstanding fifth place. The Rocket propelled himself into top spot with eight to race, finishing up just 0.01s behind Daniel Yule of Switzerland in fourth. Ryding’s time of 1:32.42 saw him only 0.05s outside of the podium positions, where Croatia’s Filip Zubčić took third spot behind Kristoffer Jakobsen of Sweden in second, and Frenchman Clément Noël in first. Roy Steudle also had a successful week on the Alpine circuit, grabbing a third and a fourth spot in the Downhill NorAm Cup in Lake Louise, Canada, banking his first Downhill podium spot since 2018.

At the Para Snowboard Cross World Cup in Pyha, James Barnes-Miller added silver and bronze medals to his impressive run of form over the past 12 months, with Owen Pick also picking up top-10 finishes coming 5th and 7th. Meanwhile, the Para Nordic squad were in Canmore securing the team’s best ever results, Scott Meenagh grabbing 4th and 5th place finishes, and Steve Arnold also banking a top-10 results, coming in in 10th position. Earlier in the week, Shona Brownlee added two bronze medal finishes to her burgeoning collection of podium finishes in her first ever World Cup races in Steinach am Brenner, Austria.

The Ski Cross World Cup in Val Thorens saw Ollie Davies bank his best ever World Cup result with an 11th place finish on Saturday, going two better than his previous best finishes at Arosa and Idre Fjall last year.

In her first competition since securing a stunning silver medal at the Aspen World Cup in March, Zoe Atkin was back inside the top-10 with an 8th place finish at the Copper Mountain World Cup, continuing her fine run of top-10 World Cup finishes which now stretches back to 2019.

Britain’s moguls squad were also back in action over the weekend in the Idre Fjall World Cup. In the women’s competitions, Makayla Gerken Schofield finished just outside the top-20 in Dual Moguls coming in 21st, with Leonie Gerken Schofield finishing 28th and Skyler Nunn 44th. In the Single Moguls, Leonie came in in 29th, Makayla in 33rd and Skyler Nunn 42nd. In the men’s competition, Thomas Gerken Schofield banked 25th in the Single Moguls and 21st in the Dual Moguls, Will Feneley came in 37th in Dual and 30th in Single, and Mateo Jeannesson finished 58th in Dual.

In Aerials, Lloyd Wallace added more World Cup points to his season tally, coming 28th and 22nd in back-to-back World Cup competitions in Ruka, Finland.

The weekly GB Snowsport results summary is presented in association with Snow+Rock

Header Image: GEPA pictures / Mathias Mandl

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