Snow+Rock Results Round-Up: Hill grabs Gold and Musgrave off to a flier as season gets into full swing

There were dual podiums for Britain’s Beijing Bronze Medallist and a career-best start to the Cross-Country season as the 2022-23 season gets into full flight

Ollie Hill’s memorable 2022 continued with the first Para Snowboard World Cup competition of the season returning gold and silver medals for the Beijing Paralympic Games bronze medallist. In back-to-back Banked Slalom World Cups in Landgraaf, Hill’s times of 35.81 and 16.16 were enough to secure first and second spot in strong fields featuring many of the athletes who lined up in Beijing for the Paralympic Winter Games.

Alongside Hill’s brace of podiums, James Barnes-Miller took fourth spot in the Men’s Banked Slalom Upper Limb 1 competition, while Jon-Allan Butterworth finished with 11^th and 9^th place finishes under his belt. In the Women’s Banked Slalom Lower Limb 1/2, Nina Sparks took two fourth place finishes, the second under 4s off the podium.

The Cross-Country season also got off to a fine start for Andrew Musgrave, with a fifth place finish in the Ruka World Cup 10km Classic marking his best ever start to a season in a result which saw him finish just 12s off an all-Norwegian podium of Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Paal Golberg, and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, leaving him 4^th in the Distance Cup and 7^th in the overall World Cup standings. For Musgrave it marked a significant backing-up of his early season form in the non-FIS Beitosprint races earlier in November, which saw him finish third in the 10km Free and 19^th in the 10km Classic.

James Clugnet and the newest member of the Cross-Country World Cup Squad, Joe Davies, also posted promising results in the Gala FIS races, with Clugnet taking sixth in the Sprint race after a crash in the final, while Davies took 30^th in the 10km Free, less than a minute behind the winner, and 8^th in U23s category.

In the Freeski Stubai World Cup, Tyler Harding delivered a sensational first round that saw him qualify for Finals in third spot and showcasing the raw talent that has seen him take previous World Cup top-10s in Font Romeu in 2017 and 2020. His final position of 13^th after missing a grab on his second jump marks a superb return in only his second World Cup since January 2021, and his best finish since the Seiseralm World Cup in January 2020.

Meanwhile, an Alpine World Cup season that continues to be heavily impacted by challenging global weather conditions saw an almost record-shattering performance from Charlie Guest in the Levi Slalom World Cup, qualifying for the second run in ninth spot before a DNF scuppered chances of a career best finish, but highlighted the enormous strides Guest continues to make after a series of strong showings last season.