Gold & Silver for GB Snowsport Athletes

2nd December 2023

Massive congratulations to Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale.

• Bankes and Nightingale won the World Championships title at the Bakuriani World Championships last season
• Saturday’s result marks the first ever British World Cup podium in Team Snowboard Cross history
• In the Final, Great Britain finished ahead of France (2nd), the United States (3rd), and France (4th)

Teamwork makes the dream work! 🏂🏆

Huge congratulations to Huw and Charlotte, the unstoppable world champions, for clinching victory in the first @fissnowboard cross world cup team event of the season. 🥹

Your synchronized skills on the slopes are truly unmatched🥵🙌 pic.twitter.com/wSMekVoytR

— GB Snowsport (@GBSnowsport) December 2, 2023

“It’s so incredible to see Charlotte and Huw continue their success from last year into the start of this season,” said GB Snowsport Head Coach, Pat Sharples.

“Both Charlotte and Huw as well as their coaching and support team have worked incredibly hard right through the summer and autumn and it’s paying off. What a start to the World Cup circuit.”

Earlier 19-year-old Kirsty Muir from Aberdeen sealed her debut Big Air World Cup podium on Saturday at the venue used for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

It’s her third World Cup podium but her first in the Big Air discipline.

After qualifying in 4th place, she launched herself up the standings and onto the podium with superb first and second round jumps, giving her a final score of 167.25.

It was enough to see her finish ahead of Italy’s Flora Tabanelli and behind Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud.

It’s Muir’s best ever Big Air result, surpassing her previous best of 5th at the Copper Mountain World Cup in December 2022.

Kirsty Muir wins silver in Big Air at 2023 Beijing World Cup. Image © Jamie Matthew/GB Snowsport

Muir now has a trio of World Cup podiums and a trio of silvers.

She was second in the Slopestyle discipline at both Mammoth in February 2023 and Aspen in March 2021.

“I’m super happy with how today went, the weather was perfect and the jump felt really good,” Muir said after success in Beijing.

“I’m proud of how I skied, and really excited to have my first podium of the season but also my first Big Air WC podium.

“My last run didn’t go to plan, I wanted to try a different grab in my 14 but I’m excited to try it again at the next competition. Very grateful overall.”

Kirsty Muir wins silver in Big Air at 2023 Beijing World Cup. Image © Jamie Matthew/GB Snowsport

Jamie Matthew, the GB Snowsport Freeski Head Coach said Muir had skied amazingly well on Saturday in what had been a tough week of competition in China.

“She has shown great consistency all week, especially today, so I’m stoked she claimed her first BA podium,” he said.

“It has been a tough summer for her rehabbing a few niggles so to grab a podium on her first BA event of the year with plenty more to give sets the tone for a very exciting future ahead.”

Later on Saturday, GB’s Mia Brookes, just missed out on a podium in the Snowboard Big Air in Beijing.

16-year-old Brookes had gone into the final as the top seed but finished 4th behind Austria’s Anna Gasser (1st), Australia’s Tess Coady (2nd) and Miyabi Onitsuka of Japan (3rd).

Brookes is in with a chance of becoming the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year 2023.

She has made it to the final three and the result will be announced on 19th December.

Brookes won the Snowboard Slopestyle title at the World Championships in February just after celebrating her 16th birthday, becoming the youngest ever freestyle snowboard World Champion.

GB’s Mia Brookes, 2023 Snowboard Slopestyle World Champion. Image © GB Snowsport