BRITS CHASING SUCCESS IN SIX COUNTRIES
British skiers and snowboarders are spread across three continents THIS coming week, contesting World, Europa and Far East Cup competitions.
British skiers and snowboarders are spread across three continents THIS coming week, contesting World, Europa and Far East Cup competitions. Leading the way are the GB Cross Country team who line up for their first World Cup of the season in Norway, a pair of GB Alpine skiers are in the US while two riders saw World Cup action today at the para snowboard World Cup in Finland.
World Para Snowboard World Cup, Pyha FIN – Fri 30-Sat 1 December
James Barnes-Miller (upper limb 1) led the Para Snowboard charge today when Pyha played host to the snowboard cross World Cup.
The PyeongChang Paralympian was ranked sixth after the seeding runs and won through to the quarter-finals before bowing out to finish sixth overall.
Having earned a top ten result in his World Cup debut earlier this month in banked slalom, Andy MacLeod (lower limb 2) had his first snowboard cross race at this level today and finished eighth.
Both will be in the start gates again tomorrow for another snowboard cross World Cup race.
Snowboard Cross Europa Cup, Pitztal AUT – Wed 28-Thu 29 November
Just one week after officially being released to race for Great Britain, Charlotte Bankes claimed victory in the first race in her new colours earlier this week.
The snowboard cross star who previously represented France lined up alongside new teammate Maisie Potter in this week's Europa Cup in Pitztal, Austria.
In Wednesday's race, Bankes qualified through the seeding round in third place, then picked off three straight wins in the quarters, semis and the big final to stand on top of the podium.
“It was a pretty tense day; I put quite a bit of pressure on myself but with all the support I had from the team I managed to pull through it," said the 23-year-old. “It was a long day, some tight racing with a lot of passing but I managed to improve on each run and it helped that Eva Samkova crashed in the final, but that’s Snowboard Cross.
“It’s a good way to start the season - even though it’s just a Europa Cup, to get that result with such a great team I’m really forward to kicking off the World Cup season in the GB colours.”
In yesterday's race Bankes was the fastest through qualifying and one her quarter-final before crashing out in the semis. The returned to race and win the small final to earn fifth place.
Potter competed in her first race in 363 days when she entered the start gate on Wednesday, a broken heel cruelling her PyeongChang dreams last December and keeping her out of competition for nearly a year. Her best result of the week was 24th in Thursday's seeding run but there are bigger things to come this season for the 21-year-old.