Sports News

Widespread avalanches have left the Bec des Rosses unsafe for freeriding after tests this morning. It’s only the second time in its history that the Xtreme Verbier has been cancelled. NEW

Charlotte Bankes won the overall Snowboard Cross World Cup for the second time despite finishing fifth in the final race of the season in Canada. UPDATED

The 20-year-old X Games Champion was just pipped to the top spot, but took silver in the ski halfpipe final.  It was the only medal for GB on the final day of the Freestyle World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia and adds to the two snowboard gold medals earlier this week. UPDATED

GB’s Dave Ryding had a ‘did not finish’ at the World Cup slalom Kandahar race in Chamonix on Saturday. He is likely disappointed with his performance. PlanetSKI is not, in fact we celebrate just watching The Rocket race.

The GB snowboarder will miss the rest of the 2023 season after having further surgery on her ankle. It is another blow to an injury-affected career.

Dave Ryding has been back in action, just two days after winning silver at Kitzbühel on Sunday. It’s the Schladming night slalom – one of the most exciting events of the year. UPDATED

GB’s Dave Ryding is preparing to race at Kitzbühel, one year on from his historic victory.  Can ‘The Rocket’ find the form to tame the slalom course on the infamous Hahnenkamm mountain and win for a second time? UPDATED

Mikaela Shiffrin, the 27-year-old American superstar, had to settled for second place in the night slalom in Flachau on Tuesday. But surely it is only a matter of time before she takes lead. She is currently tied on 82 Women’s World Cup wins with Lindsey Vonn.

Thomas Bach, has described 2022 as ‘successful as it was turbulent’.  The year saw the Winter Olympics take place in Beijing, China, amid Covid-19 and political controversy. Then Russia invaded Ukraine. NEW

The 27-year-old American remains just one victory away from equalling the great Lindsey Vonn’s record for the most World Cup victories by a female alpine ski racer. She came 6th on Saturday in Slovenia but goes again on Sunday. UPDATED

FIS is acquiring the FWT properties for an undisclosed amount. The two organisations will join forces starting from the 2022-2023 season.

A cross country sprint ski race is being moved from Milan in Italy to Livigno as making artificial snow has been deemed to be too expensive.

Despite the snow of the weekend warm temperatures are set to return to the Alps. This has led FIS to cancel next weekend’s parallel GS events in Lech, Austria.

There are those that coach the elite athletes in World Cup racing and those that operate at the grass roots level. Congratulations to the winners & all those nominated.

They were to have been the flagship races of the new season and the first between two countries. A lack of snow has caused the cancellation. It begs the question whether it was sensible to schedule them so early in the season in the first place. UPDATED

The men’s GS race in Soelden in Austria took place on Sunday. Heavy rain in the Austrian resort led to the women’s GS race being called off on Saturday. UPDATED

The Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 reached a global broadcast audience of more than 2 billion people, according to independent research conducted on behalf of the International Olympic Committee.
 

The International Olympic Committee, National Ski Federations, athletes, Greenpeace and others have condemned the  move. Mostly on environmental grounds, and with some opposing Saudi’s position on human rights.

The President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, was speaking to the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera. Some Russian winter athletes have already been called up to potentially fight in the war. NEW

Trojena has been told it can host the 2029 Asian Winter Games. The £448 billion resort area is still on the drawing board. NEW

That’s the claim from the race director after a course inspection. It is the first cross-border World Cup event and will be jointly staged by Zermatt in Switzerland and Cervinia in Italy.

The Norwegian Ski Federation has boycotted all meetings where the two countries are in attendance. It comes as FIS has raised the prospects of the two nations competing next season. Finland has also criticised the attendance of Russia and Belarus.UPDATED

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation Council is to discuss the participation of Russian and Belarus athletes next month. NEW

The Norwegian double Olympic gold medal skier has undergone surgery. He has said the operation was a success with the outlook good. NEW

New names join familiar faces in 2022-23 British Freestyle Ski & Snowboard Squad. It brings together some exciting ski and snowboard talent competing under the GB Snowsport banner.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation has announced two more appointments to its media and marketing division. The new division has divided FIS. NEW

It’s funding has been cut by UK Sport and it has launched a crowding funding campaign to try to keep the show on the road. In recent seasons it has been competing & making the podium at the highest level.