GBS Results Round-Up: Bankes goes back-to-back Gold as medal tally rises

Charlotte Bankes took brilliant double World Cup wins as Britain’s 2022/23 medal count grew to 39

In her first World Cup competitions since the Bakuriani World Championships, Charlotte Bankes sealed brilliant back-to-back World Cup gold medals in the Sierra Nevada Snowboard Cross World Cup. The results mean she has now taken victory in each of the last four World Cup races and leaves her top of the 2023 Snowboard Cross Cup Standings, with 478 points to Chloe Trespeuch’s 460.

In both races, Bankes held off a strong challenge from Trespeuch, with the French Snowboard Cross star taking silver on each occasion, leaving the race for the Crystal Globe in the balance as the season moves towards its conclusion.

The men’s races, meanwhile, saw Huw Nightingale finish in 48th place.

There was also good news from the Para Snowboard Snowboard Cross races at the La Molina World Championships, where Nina Sparks took an excellent bronze medal in the opening weekend of the Championships. James Barnes-Miller and Ollie Hill were left empty handed after the opening races of the competition, but with Dual Banked Slalom races still to come, Britain has a chance to add further to an already excellent World Championships haul this season.

Sparks’ and Bankes’ results pushed Britain’s World Championships, World Cup, and X Games medal haul for the season to a scarcely believable 39 with podiums in every single discipline across the winter.

At Europa Cup level, Mateo Jeannesson took a superb Dual Moguls victory at the Engadin Europa Cup competition. One of the youngest competitors in the field, Jeannesson’s victory was the second time he’s climbed the podium this season, after victory in the Hintertux Open in November. Mateo’s brother, Tom, finished in 15th in Dual Moguls following a superb fourth place in Single Moguls a day earlier.

There was disappointment in Alpine at the Are World Cup for Charlie Guest and at the Kranjska Gora World Cup for Charlie Raposo, with each posting a DNF amid tricky race conditions.

In Telemark, Jazmin Taylor recorded the third World Cup podium of her season with bronze at the Krvavec Sprint World Cup, while in Cross Country Andrew Musgrave finished just outside of the top-10 with an 11th place finish in the Oslo World Cup 50km F Mass Start, which saw a remarkable Norwegian clean sweep of the top-10 places. Joe Davies, meanwhile, took a superb victory at the NCAA Championships with first place in the 10km F before a very promising sixth in the 20km C Mass Start.