Strong Results for GB Snowsport Athletes
20th December 2021
Last modified on January 25th, 2022
It’s been another successful week for the Brits on the competitive circuit. The best ever Nordic result for British athletes was recorded in Germany and there were more medals for the para snowsport squad. But there’s bad news for a Winter Olympics medal hope. UPDATED
Cross Country
Andrew Young and James Clugnet produced the goods, coming 6th in the Team Sprint at the Cross Country World Cup in Dresden at the weekend.
It’s the best GB result and they secured their spot in the final with second place in the semi- final.
They finished 3.84 seconds behind the winning Norwegian team and almost 7 seconds ahead of the third placed Swiss team in the semi-final.
Para Snowsport
The squad continued their excellent early season form.
Alpine skier Neil Simpson won gold and silver along with his guide, Neil Simpson, at the World Cup Giant Slalom in St Moritz in Switzerland.
It followed their two golds at the GB Para Alpine National Championships & Europa Cup races in Steinach am Brenner, Austria.
At that event Menna Fitzpatrick and guide Katie Guest won two golds.
Mille Knight and guide Brett Wild won two silvers.
Shona Brownlee picked up a silver and a bronze.
At the prestigious 2021 Dew Tour held at Copper Mountain in Colorado, Owen Pick won a silver medal in Adaptive Snowboard Slalom.
Newcomer Nina Sparks continued her impressive start to her GB Para Snowboard career, with silver and gold at the Europa Cup in Hochfugen.
The results earned her a wildcard entry to the World Cup racers where she came 8th in her debut.
Alpine
There was GB representation in Europa Cup races.
In Val di Fassa, a race stacked with World Cup talent saw Laurie Taylor secure an excellent 8th place in his first Europa Cup appearance of the season.
Charlie Raposo was 11th in the Europa Cup at Gungezer after finishing the first run in 3rd.
Reece Bell, daughter of GB former racer Martin Bell, achieved her best NorAm Cup result with 2nd place in Panorama, British Columbia.
Her previous top finish was 8th at Copper Mountain in November.
Coming up….
There’s more alpine action to come later this week with GB’s top ski racer, Dave Ryding, competing.
Following his brilliant 5th place in his first World Cup race of the season in Val d’Isere, he’ll be on the starting line for the men’s slalom at Madonna di Campiglio in the Dolomites on Wednesday 22nd.
Ryding will hoping to go into the Christmas break with another top 10.
Who knows, maybe it’s time for a fourth World Cup podium.
Ryding will be joined by Billy Major and Laurie Taylor.
Ski Cross
Former alpine racer Max Vaughton announced his move over to Ski Cross in spectacular fashion.
He came through the pack to finish 8th in only his second Ski Cross race at the Val Thorens Europa Cup.
Freeski
At the 2021 Dew Tour Zoe Atkin was 7th in the Ski Superpipe.
Unfortunately, Zoe’s older sister, Izzy suffered a broken pelvis in competition.
The 2022 Winter Olympics, which take place in February, must now be a doubt.
Izzy Atkin made sporting history at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, winning a bronze medal in the Ski Slopestyle.
She’s remaining positive that she could recover in time to compete for a medal in Beijing.
“Didn’t think I’d be back in a hospital bed so soon but I guess that’s just how it goes sometimes,” Izzy said on Instagram.
“I managed to cap off a fun week of skiing the amazing @dewtour course with a broken pelvis.
“There’s a long and painful recovery ahead but I’m already up and walking (with an old lady walker lol) and keeping hope alive for the Olympics in February 🙂 Thanks for all the kind words ❤️.”
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In her first appearance at the Dew Tour, Kirsty Muir, finished in an excellent 7th place in Ski Slopestyle.
Snowboard Cross
Charlotte did not quite manage another World Cup podium following her gold and silver medals in her most recent races, but her season continued in good form with another top 10.
She was 9th after qualifying in first position.
Maisie Potter was 21st, just missing out on the finals.
Moguls
Makayla Gerken Schofield got 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, France.
In the men’s competition, Mateo Jeannesson got his first ever World Cup points, coming 23rd in the Dual Moguls.
Will Feneley also banked some World Cup points, finishing in 27th spot, a result he equalled in the Single Moguls.
Ski Jumping
In Seefeld, Austria, Mani Cooper jumped a personal best of 81 metres.
The information on which this report is based comes from GB Snowsport in association with Snow + Rock.
