GB Freestyle And Cross-country World Championships Squads Named

With the Alpine World Championships underway, and the Para Alpine and Para Nordic World Championships concluded amid a rush of medals for British athletes, attention begins to turn to the Freestyle and Cross-Country World Championships beginning later this month.

An exciting 13-athlete Freestyle World Championships squad confirms the presence of no fewer than five 2022/23 season World Cup podium holders among the British contingent, while in Cross-Country a four-man squad travel to Slovenia, for the country's debut as World Championships hosts.

In Bakuriani, the 13 British athletes will compete across Snowboard Cross, Ski Cross, Freeski, Freestyle Snowboard and Moguls, while the Cross-Country team will see British interest in Sprint, Distance, Team Relay, and Team Sprint competitions.

Zoe Atkin (Freeski Halfpipe World Cup Gold, Mammoth Mountain; X Games Superpipe Gold), Mia Brookes (Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup Silver, Laax), Makayla Gerken-Schofield (Dual Moguls World Cup Bronze, Val St. Come), Kirsty Muir (Freeski Slopestyle World Cup Silver, Mammoth Mountain; X Games Slopestyle Bronze; X Games Big Air Bronze) and reigning World Champion Charlotte Bankes (Snowboard Cross World Cup Gold, Cervinia and Cortina, World Cup Bronze Cervinia) headline a squad that features two debutants in Brookes and Beijing 2022 Snowboard Cross Olympian Huw Nightingale.

FREESKI

A four-person Freeski Slopestyle and Big Air squad brings a collective 15 World Championships under their belts with 2019 Slopestyle World Champion, James Woods, lining up alongside Tyler Harding in his fourth World Championships, Chris McCormick competing for the third time and Kirsty Muir in her second Championships. Zoe Atkin, meanwhile, will compete in her third World Championships in Freeski Halfpipe, having taken bronze in the 2021 Championships in Aspen.

SNOWBOARD CROSS AND SKI CROSS

Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale will reprise their Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in the Snowboard Cross Team Event, while Bankes will be looking to defend the World Championships title she secured at the 2021 World Championships in Idre Fjall.

In Ski Cross, Ollie Davies will be the sole British representative on his third World Championships, having taken an exceptional fourth place at the 2021 Idre Fjall Championships.

FREESTYLE SNOWBOARD

On her World Championships debut, Mia Brookes will be the sole British Freestyle Snowboard competitor, where she is set to compete in both the Slopestyle and Big Air competitions. Brookes comes into the Championships on the back of an outstanding debut World Cup season which has seen her notch three top-10 finishes, including a silver medal at her last World Cup in Laax in January.

MOGULS

The Moguls competitions will Makayla Gerken-Schofield, Will Feneley, Tom Gerken-Schofield and Mateo Jeannesson representing British interests, in a season which has seen Makayla Gerken-Schofield take the first World Cup podium of her career, Jeannesson break into the World Cup top-20 for the first time, and Feneley match his best ever World Cup result with an eighth place finish in Dual Moguls at this month’s Deer Valley World Cup. The team will be looking to Tom Gerken-Schofield’s sixth place at the 2021 Almaty World Championships for inspiration with a rich combination of experience and form to draw on from the season to date.

Freestyle Snowboarders Maisie Hill and Katie Ormerod, both of whom met selection qualification criteria, miss out on the Championships through injury.

The Bakuriani Freestyle World Championships begin on 18 February with the first British athlete due to be in action on 23 February, with the Ski Cross Qualification rounds.

FULL SQUAD SELECTIONS

SNOWBOARD CROSS

Charlotte Bankes
Huw Nightingale

SKI CROSS

Ollie Davies

FREESKI – SLOPESTYLE AND BIG AIR

Tyler Harding
Chris McCormick
Kirsty Muir
James Woods

FREESKI – HALFPIPE

Zoe Atkin

FREESTYLE SNOWBOARD – SLOPESTYLE AND BIG AIR

Mia Brookes

MOGULS

Will Feneley
Makayla Gerken-Schofield
Tom Gerken-Schofield
Mateo Jeannesson

Britain’s Cross-Country World Cup squad will all line up for the Cross-Country World Championships after their selection was confirmed today by GB Snowsport.

The four-man team of James Clugnet, Joe Davies, Andrew Musgrave, and Andrew Young will all participate in the Championships’ distance events, while Clugnet, Musgrave, and Young will also take part in the Championships’ sprint events. The Team Sprint, meanwhile, will see Young and Clugnet leading the British charge in a pairing that has seen some notable results in recent years, including ninth at the Livigno World Cup earlier this month, and sixth in the Dresden World Cup in December 2021. The 2023 Championships will also see Britain enter a Men’s 4 x 10km Relay team for the first time since the 2011 World Championships in Oslo.

The Championships, which will be hosted in Slovenia for the first time in their history, will see eleven days of Cross-Country action beginning with 10km Free qualification round on 22 February and closing with the 50km Mass Start Classic on 5 March.

The British team approach the Championships in excellent form, with six World Cup top-10s including a podium in Beitostolen for Andrew Musgrave, two top-10s for James Clugnet in Davos and Livigno, the latter alongside Andrew Young in the Team Sprint earlier this month. Joe Davies, meanwhile, enters the Championships on the back of a season which has see his World Cup debut and selection for the U23 Cross-Country World Championships.

The 2023 Championships mark the eighth World Championships for Musgrave, seventh for Young, and the fourth for Clugnet, with the team’s best result to date coming in the 2017 Championships in Lahti, Finland, with Musgrave’s fourth place in the 50km Mass Start Free.

FULL SQUAD SELECTION: