It’s not over yet, but already Team GB has picked up three medals at the Freestyle World Championships – their best haul ever.
Gold – James Woods (Men’s Ski Slopestyle)
Yesterday James ‘Woodsy’ Woods won gold in the Ski Slopestyle. In extremely challenging conditions, Woods went one step higher on the podium from the silver he won in 2013 and bronze in 2017.
Woodsy noted the terrible conditions after his win:
“It was a bit of a wild day to be honest with you. We’re hanging off the side of a mountain here – judging the weather conditions, assessing the wind, knowing what the snow is doing.”
Silver – Charlotte Bankes (Women’s Snowboard Cross)
After her switch from France to Team GB in November, Charlotte Bankes won Great Britain’s first-ever snowboard cross medal at a major championship.
With USA’s five-time World Champion Lindsey Jacobellis eliminated in the semis, the medals were expected to be decided by Bankes and the last two Olympic gold medallists, Eva Samkova (CZE) and Michela Moioli (ITA).
As the trio jockeyed for track position throughout, a relatively clean race ended with Samkova claiming her first world title ahead of Bankes with Moioli in third.
“It’s great to actually be enjoying snowboarding again, to be pain free,” said Bankes. “It was always going to be tough, but today was fun, everything seemed to go to plan. It’s nice after all the hard work which everyone has put in.”
You can watch her winning run on BBC Sport here.
Bronze – Izzy Atkin (Women’s Ski Big Air)
Izzy Atken won Britain’s first Olympic medal on skis in Pyeongchang a year ago when she took the slopestyle bronze.
Earlier this week, she matched that effort in the Ski Big Air at the World Championships in Park City, moving up from fourth after the first run.
“I’m really happy with the way I skied. I wasn’t expecting to be on the podium so this feels amazing.”
Ski Big Air is a relatively new sport that will make its Olympic debut at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, so there’s evidently increased potential for more medals.
