Ski and Snowboard Freestyle Athletes take their turn with Great Results
Zoe Gillings, Team BSS's No 1 Olympic snowboard athlete opened the season today with a fantastic 5th place finish at the Montafon World Cup, Austria, beating off stiff competition from Olympic Gold medallist Maelle Ricker (Can) and World No 3 Alexander Jekova (Bul).
Zoe immediately stamped her authority on the competition qualifying in 4rd place out of a World Cup field of over 35 athletes which automatically placed her into the heats.
Zoe went into the first heat comfortably finishing in second place ensuring progression into the semi-finals. A good start from Zoe saw her again take second place but a small mistake mid way through the course opened the door for the third placed athlete to pass Zoe on the third burm eventually relegating Zoe to third place and into the small final.
Zoe immediately took charge in her final race passing
World No 4 Jekova before winning the heat and securing an overall
5th place World Cup finish.
Zoe commented after the race,
"I made a silly mistake in the semi final which meant I could only
race for positions five to eight which Im really disappointed with
but overall qualifying in 4th and finishing 5th in the
first World Cup gives me a lot of confidence at the start of the
season…"
"I would like to say a huge
thank you to my federation - British Ski and Snowboard (BSS) and UK
Sport without whom I simply wouldn't be in this position. I
know first hand the amount of hard work which everyone at the BSS
has put in, from the office to the CEO, its not easy but I really
appreciate every bit of it, thank you"
Zoe now heads to Telluride , Colorado, for the next round of the World Cup series on the 15th December 2012.
(Zoe Gillings Press Release)
17-year old BSS Freestyle Ski athlete Rowan Cheshire also had a fantastic result at the Copper Mountain North American Cup Ladies' Halfpipe event, coming 10th place. Both Anna Vincenti and Murray Buchan also had a good competition, both coming 22nd in their respective events.
And finally, the BSS Ski Cross Team kicked off their first World Cup in Canada for the 2012/13 season, setting themselves up for the next event in Telluride over the next couple of days.
Results for Nakiska Ski Cross World Cup event here: http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?event_id=31574&cal_suchsector=FS
