Charlotte Bankes & Huw Nightingale Win Olympic Gold
15th February 2026
Last modified on February 22nd, 2026
It’s Team GB’s first ever Winter Olympic title on snow as they top the podium in the mixed snowboard cross.
The men raced first and Huw Nightingale crossed the line in second place to set up Charlotte Bankes.
She then pipped Italy’s Michela Moioli to the line and the British pair claimed the gold medal.
It adds to the World Championship title they won in 2023.
Huw Nightingale at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Photo © Team GB/Sam Mellish Photography
GB’s only previous Olympic medals on snow were bronzes – for snowboarder Jenny Jones in 2014.
Then freestyle skier Izzy Atkin and snowboarder Billy Morgan four years later.
Bankes and Nightingale both had disappointment in their earlier individual events at the Milan-Cortina Games.
Last Friday Bankes exited the women’s event in the quarter-finals, just as she did four years ago in Beijing, despite being widely tipped for a medal.
Similarly, Nightingale was left wanting much more from himself after exiting the men’s competition in the round of 16.
He found another level to produce his best race.
Asked how she was feeling after the victory Bankes told BBC Sport she was “lost for words”.
“Huw put me in an amazing position, he’s been riding extremely well and rode today to his full potential,” she said.
“I was in that start gate, knowing I was going for gold.”
Charlotte Bankes at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Photo © Team GB/Sam Mellish Photography
Bankes is a former individual world champion and two-time overall World Cup champion.
Huw Nightingale reacted with joy and tears after the victory.
“It’s immense, you know,” said Huw.
“I think we push each other well and for me, I know that Charlotte Bankes is behind me and she’s such an incredible rider that it kind of loosens me up.
“I know that when I’m loose, I can ride really well and I think we’ve shown that today.
“The singles were tough but now there are tears of joy.”
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale, 2026 Olympic Champions in Mixed Team SBX. Image © Sam Mellish/Team GB
For some a gold medal for Team GB was an inevitability – just a case of when.
“We’ve been saying we’ve got the talent, we’ve been showing the talent in World Championships and World Cups, but everybody looks to the Olympics because everything is amplified,” GB Snowsport chief executive Vicky Gosling told BBC Sport.
“Here we are, actually producing that gold. For us, that is massive.
“We’ve said that anything is possible. We have amazing Brits with grit and amazing talent, it’s all about unlocking that.
“People can truly see it’s possible and we can deliver Olympic medals.
“Hopefully we are inspiring the next generation to get themselves to snow domes and get themselves prepared because the future is looking rosy.”
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale, 2026 Olympic Champions in Mixed Team SBX. Image © Sam Mellish/Team GB
Bankes has 26 World Cup gold medals to her name and in 2021 became the first British snowboarder to win a World Championship title.
Born in Hemel Hempstead, she moved with her family to France as a four-year-old and represented the country at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, before changing allegiance to GB after the Pyeongchang Games.
Bankes then went into the Beijing Olympics four years later as perhaps Britain’s best chance of a gold, but a crash in the quarter-finals put paid to her hopes and left her devastated.
It was the first gold medal of the day for Team with another coming later when Tabby Stoecker and Matt Weston took the team skeleton gold.
Team GB now has three gold medals – the most it has ever achieved at a Winter Olympics.
“Huw has been running incredibly well and that just shows the strength that we’ve got as a team,” added Bankes.
“And to be able to perform as Team GB in a team event is incredible.
“It makes me even more proud.”
There is more GB snowsport action on Monday at The Games.
Dave Ryding is one of three British athletes competing in the men’s slalom.
Dave Ryding in Schladming Image © PlanetSKI
‘The Rocket’, 39, has a best Olympic finish of ninth at PyeongChang 2018 from his four previous appearances and is joined by Laurie Taylor and Billy Major.
It will be Ryding’s last Olympics.
Both Major and Taylor are featuring at their second Olympics, Taylor having debuted in PyeongChang and Major in Beijing four years later.
Taylor recorded his best World Cup finish of fourth earlier this season.
The first run is at 9am GMT with the second at 12.30pm.
Kirsty Muir, who finished fourth in the slopestyle last week, goes in the big air final from 6.30pm GMT.
She qualified in fourth with a total score of 166.50.
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