Simpson/Poth and Taylor take World Cup Golds
Para Alpine and Telemark stars top standings in Courchevel and Pinzolo
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Young and Clugnet bank best-ever British result, while Para Snowsport squad continue excellent early season form
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.
It's 🥈 for @reecebellski in the @fisalpine Panorama NorAm!!!
An incredible result – congratulations Reece!
🇬🇧⛷️🇬🇧⛷️🇬🇧⛷️🇬🇧⛷️🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/ubNu8L9qKH
— GB Snowsport (@GBSnowsport) December 19, 2021
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
