Written by British Ski and Snowboard
James ‘Woodsy’ Woods pulled off ‘the run of his life’ at the X Games in Aspen on Saturday, eventually finishing a fantastic 5th place against the world’s best Slopestyle skiers, with Nick Goepper, Joss Christensen and Alex Bellemare taking the podium spots. This was Woodsy’s fourth top five placing in six X- Games.
Over in Kreischberg at the World Freestyle Ski and Snowboard Championships, the 10 day event culminated in more success for the GB Park and Pipe team with a seventh place for Billy Morgan in the Snowboard Big Air and eighth place for James Machon in the Ski Halfpipe, the best result of Machon’s career so far. In the Snowboard Big Air, just behind Billy was Sam Turnbull who took 12th position, with 17-year old Rowan Coultas finishing in 25th. Alongside James Machon, Murray Buchan took 19th place in the Men’s Ski Halfpipe. These results followed Katie Summerhayes’ magnificent Silver medal in Ski Slopestyle last Wednesday.
In Ski Cross, Ed Drake lined up against a strong field in Kreischberg, eventually finishing in 45th position. For the women, Liz Stevenson took 23rd place, with Pam Thorburn unable to compete after being hit by illness on finals day yesterday. Emily Sarsfield took the decision not to race whilst she still recovers from the surgery she has last autumn.
Delancey British Alpine Ski Team athlete Dave Ryding was in Kitzbühel for the Slalom World Cup. After finishing the first run in 22nd, Ryding unfortunately straddled a gate on his 2nd run, clocking a DNF. He will now head to Schladming for the Slalom World Cup, racing tomorrow night.
Team mate Alex Tilley had a great result in the Zell am See Europa Cup finishing in 6th position on Thursday – her best ever result on the Europa Cup circuit. She is now competing at more FIS races in Europe, before heading over to the States for the Alpine World Championships in Vail at the start of February.
Last weekend was also the British Cross Country Senior Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany, where Posy Musgrave took both the Women’s Classic and Freestyle distance titles.
Today sees the start of the European Youth Olympic Festival in Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein. At last night’s opening ceremony Cross Country skier Duncan Gibb had the honour of being the Team GB flag bearer ahead of competition, which starts today. For more information visit www.eyof.org
The Winter Universiade 2015 is also underway in Spain and Slovakia. Granada in Spain will host the snow and ice sports, whilst Stbske Pleso/Osrblie in Slovakia will host the Nordic events. Representing Great Britain at the Games are Jennifer Osborne for Snowboard Cross, Alice MacAulay and Nick Moynihan for Alpine, and Fiona Hughes for Cross Country. Competition is already underway with Fiona Hughes just missing the cut in the Sprint Qualifiers, but preparing for Wednesday’s 5km Classic race. For more information and to follow the action: http://bucs.org.uk/page.asp?section=17962§ionTitle=Team
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