British Ski and Snowboard Teams gear up for the winter
As the first big snowfalls of the winter season blanket the mountains of Europe, the British Ski and Snowboard teams are gearing up for another exciting season of action, taking them across the globe to represent their country.
The highlights of this season’s competitive skiing and snowboarding calendar have to be the FIS World Championships; the Freestyle Ski & Snowboard World Championships in Kreischberg Austria (15-25 January 2015), the Alpine World Championships in Vail - Beaver Creek, Colorado (2-15 February 2015), the Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, Sweden (18 February – 1 March 2015), the Telemark World Championships in Steamboat Springs, USA (23-27 February) and the Speed Ski World Championships (28th Feb to 3rd March 2015) in Grandvalira, Andorra.
Park and Pipe
For the GB Park and Pipe Team, their schedule is not as intense as the last Olympic year, but there are still a number of FIS World Cups for the Slopestyle, Big Air and Halfpipe athletes to ride in. This is in addition to a number of other high profile events including the Dew Tour (11-14 December 2014, Breckenridge) and the X-Games (22-25 January 2015, Aspen), both of which are invitation only events.
This week sees the first of the winter action for the Park and Pipe athletes with Sochi bronze medalist Jenny Jones and team mate Aimee Fuller taking part in the O’Neill Pleasure Jam starting this Friday, 14th November. They will be joined by promising, young teammates, snowboarders Lewis Courtier-Jones, Rowan Coultas and Matt McCormick. This Saturday, 15th November, Jamie Nicholls will be riding in the Burton Rail Days in the centre of Tokyo!
Alpine Skiing
For the Delancey British Alpine Ski Team, this season is the chance for many of the athletes to make their mark on the Europa Cup circuit and take the step up to World Cup level. Many of the athletes will also be aiming towards getting a spot at the World Championships in Vail – Beaver Creek in February. Dave Ryding, who finished 17th in the Slalom at Sochi 2014, will be competing on both the World Cup and Europa Cup circuit, with his first big competition being the Levi World Cup on Saturday 15th November.
To kick off the Alpine season for the other GB racers, Nick Moynihan will compete alongside Dave Ryding in the Europa Cup Slalom also in Levi, which runs a week later on the 22nd and 23rd November. Nick will also compete in the GS Europa Cup races in Levi on 20th and 21st November. Charlie Raposo, Jack Gower and Jai Geyer will start off their season in the US, competing primarily on the Nor-Am Cup circuit.
After the retirement of Chemmy Alcott, Great Britain looks to its other top ladies, with Charlie Guest, Alex Tilley, Cara Brown, Rachelle Rogers and Darcie Mead all looking to represent Britain on the World Cup or Europa Cup circuit this season. Charlie Guest was due to compete in the Europa Cup Slalom in Are, Sweden, but this has been cancelled, so will now compete next in the Europa Cup in Trysil, Norway on 25th and 26th November.
Nordic Skiing
It is exciting times in the British Nordic Ski Team camp after a big summer of training, with the Elite Squad this year made up of Andrew Musgrave, Andrew Young, Posy Musgrave and Callum Smith, ready to hit the World Cup circuit and with one eye on the World Championships in February. The team will be competing in FIS races from 21st November – Andrew Musgrave and Andrew Young competing in Beitostolen Norway and Posy Musgrave and Sarah Hale in Brucksvallarna, Sweden. The first World Cup is in Ruka, Finland on 29th and 30th November and will see Andrew Musgrave compete in the 15k classic on the second day, as he seeks to establish himself even further on the top level of the Nordic circuit. He will then move on to Lillehammer for the next World Cup, which starts on 5th December. He will be joined by Posy Musgrave and Andrew Young.
Ski Cross
In Ski Cross, Emily Sarsfield and Liz Stevenson are both coming back from injury, and hope to be back training in December. The two other members of the team, Ed Drake and Pam Thorburn, are busy getting ready for the first major competition for the British Ski Cross team, the FIS World Cup running from 11th – 13th December in Val Thorens. The team will then be looking towards the next World Cup in Innichen/ San Candido in Italy on 20th and 21st December before they start turning their thoughts towards the World Cup in Les Contamines and the World Championships in Kreischberg in January. The start of the competitive season follows an intensive summer of dry land training for the team.
Snowboard Cross
For the British Snowboard Cross athletes, they will also be looking towards the World Championships in Kreischberg in January, with just two World Cups in December before then. Stephanie Gehrig will take part in the FIS World Cup in Montafon, which runs from 5th - 7th December. Zoe Gillings will be back in training at the beginning of December and is due to compete in the World Championships in January. After 12 years on the World Cup circuit she is using 2014/15 as a regeneration season, so will focus on training rather than World Cups this season. This season will also see Coco Merz, Jennifer Osborne, Kyle Wise and Danny Chambers competing on the British Snowboard Cross Team as they travel Europe following the Europa Cup circuit and key FIS events. Jennifer Osborne will also compete at the World University Winter Games in Spain in February.
Moguls and Aerials
The British Moguls Team and the British Aerials Ski Team will be looking forward to a busy winter moving between Europe and North America. The top athletes will compete in January’s Freestyle World Championships in Kreischberg, but before then there are several World Cup and FIS competitions.
GB Moguls skier Ellie Koyander will take part in the first World Cup of the season in Ruka, Finland on 13th December. This season will also see former World Cup skier Andrew Longley coming out of retirement to compete initially in Europa Cup competitions and later in World Cups and hopefully the World Championships as he looks to re-establish himself as one of Britain’s top Mogul skiers. He has already started this process with a fantastic win against some very strong competition at the European Indoor Mogul Championships where he came out on top in Dual Moguls. There are also several promising young skiers who are rapidly climbing the ranks and will also be competing at FIS and Europa Cup level this season including Will Fenely, Liam Keyes and Sam Houston.
For the British Aerials Team, Lloyd Wallace is flying to Finland this weekend to join the Swiss Freestyle Ski Team in training for the first event of the season, the Europa Cup in Ruka which takes place on 5th-7th December. He will then compete in the spectacular World Cup event in Beijing on 20th and 21st December. Along with sister Elodie Wallace they will both be aiming to compete in the World Championships in Kreischberg.
Telemark
For the British Telemark Ski Team the first World Cup of the year will be in Hintertux running from 28th – 30th November. Competing for the team will be Jasmin Taylor who has recently come back from injury and is hoping to emulate her podium success from last season, along with teammates Louis Hatchwell and Fred Thomas. The Telemark Team have longer to wait before their World Championships, which take place in late February in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Speed Skiing
Following his FIS Crystal Globe success last year, Speed Skier Jan Farrell is looking to defend his title as World Cup SDH Champion and compete on the Speed Ski World Cup circuit again this year, with the World Championships held in Andorra, 28th February – 3rd March. There will also be a potential world record attempt on the 4th April in Vars, France where Jan came within 1km/h of breaking the SDH world record with a speed of 210.035 km/h in 2014.
To follow the British Ski and Snowboard Teams on Twitter:
@TeamBSS
@GBParkandPipe
@BritishNordic
@BritishSkiCross
@GBSBXTEAM
@GBAerialSki
@GBTelemark
@Britishspeedski
You can also sign up for BSS news flashes and newsletter by emailing bss@teambss.org.uk. Or keep up to date on news via the website www.teambss.org.uk
