Brits in Winter action

[Dragon 1,701]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/64853103

Finally got reported on

[Dragon 1,701]

Review of GB winter sport 2022-23

 

Part 1 - Skiing

 

Alpine Skiing

Men

At 36, Dave Ryding is one of the oldest skiers on tour but is still a regular visitor to the top 20 in World Cup races and scored his 5^th career podium finish this year. He finished 16^th in the World Cup slalom rankings. Obviously though he can’t go on forever. Billy Major and Laurie Taylor both scored World Cup points but maybe haven’t made the progress we hoped of them. In slalom, Britain is the 7^th best country in the world however we only have one more top hundred skier in all the other events.

 

Women

Pretty much a disastrous winter. Charlotte Guest scored a single points scoring finish all winter which was more than Alex Tilley did. Tilley fell in every race. At 39^th at Slalom, Guest in now GB top ranked skier.

 

Cross-Country Skiing

Men

A good year for Dave Musgrave with another World Cup medal, a top ten finish at the World Championships and he finally cracked the top ten of the World Cup distance rankings.

A solid year individually for Andrew Young and James Clugnet but some great results together in the team sprint including a 6^th place at the World Championships.

Lower down the ladder a small injection of talent from the Canadian junior system may mean GB can field a relay team next year.

 

Women

Luckily that injection of talent from Canadians with GB parentage should kick in next winter. Really need some.

 

Biathlon

Marcus Webb finished 104^th in the sprint race at the World Championships and that’s it really…

 

Freestyle Skiing

Men.

There’s nothing wrong with the men’s side of the sport in the UK, it’s just that it seems a bit Meh compared to what the women are doing. In fairness Oliver Davies did win GB’s first ever World Cup ski cross medal in February and World Juniors mogul medallist Mateo Jeannesson made a breakthrough this winter but mostly the GB men are good enough to be picked for a world championships but not to reach a final

 

Women

Is it wrong to be disappointed by the fact that GB only won a single silver at the World Championships? Zoe Atkin was so close to gold in the halfpipe, Kirsty Muir, even at just 18, looks like she will be a major contender in slopestyle and big air for the next decade (barring injuries) and Gerken-Schofield is a regular top 10 finisher in moguls.

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Dragon
typo

[Dragon 1,701]

Part 2 Sliding

 

Bobsleigh

 

Men

Brad Hall had an outstanding season. He was third in the two man World Cup standings and won three times to push the Germans close in the four man standings. Added to that Hall won a silver medal at the World Championships – the first time Britain had achieved a place on the podium in a men’s race since 1966.

 

Women

A lack of money saw the women’s side of the sport being downgraded at the start of the season but there were a few encouraging results at lower levels after the New Year.

 

Skeleton

 

Men

Whoever hired the legendary Latvia Martin Dukurs to coach the British men probably has bruises due to being patted on the back so often. After the disappointments of 2021-22 the GB squad came roaring back with new sleds and new attitudes. Matt Weston won 5 of the 8 World Cup races, the World Championships, the European Championships and was ranked #1 in the world. Oddly he didn’t win the World Cup, a bad result caused by the sled slipping out of the starting groove in an early season race having let him down. Teammate Marcus Wyatt won the first race of the season and placed third in the World Cup and fifth at the World Championships. Craig Thompson, who had an indifferent season, had a brilliant streak of form as spring approached and finished in front of Wyatt for fourth place at the Worlds

 

Women

In the women’s events success did not appear so spectacular, at least not on the surface, although Laura Deas and Brogan Crowley appeared on the World Cup podium during the season and both finished safely in the top ten of the standings despite missing races through illness.

However hot on their heels are juniors Freya Tarbitt and Tabitha Stroecker who were 1-2 in the European Cup standings despite having missed two of the eight races and won medals at both the European and World Junior Championships.

 

Mixed

Britain also won silver and bronze at the World Championships through their mixed teams.

 

Luge

Can’t find any report of a British competitor this year at all.

Edited April 10, 2023 by Dragon
typo

[Grassmarket 2,757]

1 hour ago, Dragon said:

Review of GB winter sport 2022-23

 

 

Cross-Country Skiing

Men

A good year for Dave Musgrave with another World Cup medal, a top ten finish at the World Championships and he finally cracked the top ten of the World Cup distance rankings.

A solid year individually for Andrew Young and James Clugnet but some great results together in the team sprint including a 6^th place at the World Championships.

Lower down the latter a small injection of talent from the Canadian junior system may mean GB can field a relay team next year.

 

 

Yeah, Joe Davis had a few runs at World level, but did well in the NCAAs - won the freestyle, fourth in classic.  Will definitely be in the points soon.  Two late good results for Musgrave just this weekend in the ultra-traditional Ski Classics tour suggest that he still has good years ahead at the longer distances.

[Dragon 1,701]

Part 3 Ski Jumping

 

Ski Jumping

The two GB jumpers who competed last winter didn't compete this winter.

 

Nordic Combined

And one of them didn't compete at Nordic combined either...

[Dragon 1,701]

Part 4 Snowboarding

 

Men

Not a great winter, Huw Nightingale did score World Cup points and gradually improve his results during the season in snowboardcross but only once did he make the top 20. However 16 year old Charlie Lane won gold at slopestyle and silver in big air at the European Youth Olympic Festival.

 

Women

A world championship and a world cup title but it could easily have been ever better.

Mia Brookes won the World Slopestyle gold and was the highest qualifier in big air (pun intended). The World Junior Champion is still only 16 and is a long range favourite for Milan-Cortina. Also at big air Maisie Hill scored world cup points.

Charlotte Bankes crashed out of the World Championships but recovered to win her next three World Cup events and retain her World Cup title.

 

Mixed

After Nightingale and Bankes had been foiled in their individual events the two pulled off a surprise by winning the mixed team gold at the World Championships.

[Dragon 1,701]

Part 5 Skating

 

Figure Skating

If you’re under 50 years old then the phrase “once upon a time Britain used to regularly win medals at this” may seem like a fairy tale to you. This year a British couple won a European silver medal and got close to a World Championship medal too. Let’s not kid ourselves this would have happened if Russia had not been banned but the ice dance partnership of Fear and Gibson have made significant progress in a short few years and have established themselves as one of the top six pairs in the world. Also in ice dance, Bekker and Hernandez won a World Junior bronze.

The singles and pairs are still very weak in comparison.

 

Speed Skating

If you’re under 80 years old then the phrase “once upon a time Britain used to win medals at this” may seem like a fairy tale to you. And for the first part of the winter it still seemed like a fairy tale but then Elia Smeding placed 6^th at the European Sprint Championships (including a third place finish in the 1000m). Smeding then finished 8^th at the World Championships but it was the performance of her boyfriend, the Dutch born Englishman Cornelius Kersten, that really caught the attention. Kersten finished behind only the American superstar in waiting, Jordan Scholz, and Olympic champion Thomas Krol to claim GB’s first World Championship medal since the early 50s.

 

Short Track

The phrase “once upon a time Britain used to regularly win medals at this” won’t seem that strange to you but the era of Elise Christie seems to be over. Britain took two women and a man to the World Championships and never looked like providing a finalist.

[Dragon 1,701]

Part 6 Team Sports

 

Curling

 

Men

 

European champions, world champions by beating Canada in Canada, regular challengers for major Canadian title.

Pretty much the perfect season for Bruce Mouat

 

Women

 

Winter started with the retirement of Muirhead to be the next Clare Balding on TV.

Poor performances in the Worlds but a European bronze medal was won by Rebecca Morrison's Scottish team.

Also a world junior gold for Scotland

 

Mixed Doubles

 

Solid performance in the group stage at the World Champs but Scotland were defeated at the quarter-final stage

 

Ice Hockey

 

Men

 

Pretty much perfect. Won all games and instantly promoted back to Pool A.

Suggesting a slight possibility of Olympic qualification (if Russia and Belarus are still banned)

 

Women

 

Lost 4 out of 5 in Pool B but were competitive in each game.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Dragon
update

[Mkbw50 381]

world champions of men's curling!

[Dragon 1,701]

I doubt this will last long but, at the moment,  are above  in the men's team standings at both the Alpine and Nordic World Cups.