Andrew Musgrave and James Barnes-Miller both earned World Cup top tens over the weekend which saw GB Snowsport skiers and snowboarders competing across Europe and North America.
FIS Cross Country World Cup, Lillehammer NOR – Fri 30 Nov-Sun 2 Dec
The opening World Cup of the season for the GB Cross Country team brought with it one of the best performances of Andrew Musgrave’s career.
The 28-year-old powered to sixth place in Saturday’s 15km free skate, a result he has bettered at World Cup level only once before with his third place in Toblach last December (with the exception of stage World Cup pursuits).
He then went on to finish the mini-tour in 15th overall, however Musgrave was in the hunt for a podium in Sunday’s classic pursuit right to the end. He was part of a group of more than 20 skiers fighting for third place, eventually finishing just four seconds adrift.
Andrew Young (52nd) and James Clugnet (92nd) both competed in Saturday’s free skate race but did not feature on Sunday. Annika Taylor took no further part at Lillehammer following Friday’s sprint qualifying.
The GB Cross Country team will race in Norway for the fourth straight week when the World Cup continues in Beitostolen on Saturday.
FIS Alpine World Cup, Beaver Creek USA – Fri 30-Sun 2 December
The Birds of Prey World Cup welcomed Jack Gower and Charlie Raposo to Beaver Creek over the weekend with the pair taking mixed results away from the event.
On Friday, Gower finished at the back of the pack in the downhill, but improved to a top 50 finish in Saturday’s super G, just 1.76sec away from the top three.
In Sunday’s giant slalom, Raposo recorded a DNF on his first run.
** Alex Tilley finished 11th in a giant slalom Europa Cup race in Funesdalen, Sweden on Friday before recording a DNF in the first run of Saturday’s race.
** Laurie Taylor 48th in Thursday’s Europa Cup slalom event in Levi, Finland, but failed to finish the first run on Friday’s race.
** Iain Innes, Robert Poth, Nick Moynihan, Fraser Middleton and Jack Cunningham are in China ahead of this week’s Far East Cup races. Two slalom races will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday followed by giant slalom on Thursday and Friday.
World Para Snowboard World Cup, Pyha FIN – Fri 30-Sat 1 December
James Barnes-Miller (upper limb 1) came away from the opening snowboard cross World Cup of the year with a pair of top tens.
Having already recorded a fourth and seventh place in banked slalom World Cup races in November, Barnes-Miller finished sixth in both Friday’s and Saturday’s races after bowing out at the quarter-final stage.
On Friday, Andy MacLeod (lower limb 2) finished his first snowboard cross race at this level in eighth.
FIS Freeski World Cup, Copper USA – Wed 5-Fri 7 Dec
The first ski halfpipe World Cup of the season kicks off this week at Copper Mountain with two US-based young guns representing the GB Park+Pipe team.
Sam Ward and Zoe Atkin will compete in qualifying on Wednesday with the aim of proceeding through to Friday’s US Grand Prix finals.
Both skiers had strong results in New Zealand in August, winning the Australia-New Zealand Cup halfpipe at Cardrona before scoring top ten finishes at the Junior World Championships.
Ward, 18, made his first World Cup appearance at Tignes earlier this year while 15-year-old Atkin – younger sister of Olympic bronze medallist Izzy – is already ranked in the world’s top 30 and will be making her World Cup debut.