Zoe Gillings Takes 5th Austrian World Cup Opener!
Zoe Gillings, Team GB’s No 1 Olympic snowboard athlete opened the season today with a fantastic 5th place finish at the Montafon World Cup, Austria.
Beating off stiff competition from Olympic Gold medallist Maelle Ricker (Can) and World No 3 Alexander Jekova (Bul).
Zoe immediately stamped her authority on the competition qualifying in 4rd place out of a World Cup field of over 35 athletes which automatically placed her into the heats.
Zoe went into the first heat comfortably finishing in second place ensuring progression into the semi–finals. A good start from Zoe saw her again take second place but a small mistake mid way through the course opened the door for the third placed athlete to pass Zoe on the third burm eventually relegating Zoe to third place and into the small final.
Zoe immediately took charge in her final race passing World No 4 Jekova before winning the heat and securing an overall 5th place World Cup finish.
Zoe commented after the race, “I made a silly mistake in the semi final which meant I could only race for positions five to eight which Im really disappointed with but overall qualifying in 4th and finishing 5th in the first World Cup gives me a lot of confidence at the start of the season…”
“I would like to say a huge thank you to my federation - British Ski and Snowboard (BSS) and UK Sport without whom I simply wouldn’t be in this position. I know first hand the amount of hard work which everyone at the BSS has put in, from the office to the CEO, its not easy but I really appreciate every bit of it, thank you”
Zoe now heads to Telluride , Colorado, for the next round of the World Cup series on the 15th December 2012.