Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale made history by becoming Great Britain’s first mixed team snowboard cross world champions.
This is the nation’s first victory in the mixed team event, which debuted at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The duo won narrowly in Georgia by 0.88 seconds from Austria’s Jakob Dusek and Pia Zerkhold, while France’s Merlin Surget and Chloé Trespeuch came third in a thrilling final.
Following Mia Brookes’ victory in the slopestyle event on Monday, Nightingale handed over the lead to Bankes, who defeated the rest of the women’s field to earn Britain’s second gold of the championships.
Bankes failed in her attempt to defend her snowboard cross world title after tumbling out of her heat on Wednesday, and Nightingale did not qualify for the men’s finals.
“I can’t believe it,” said Nightingale. It’s incredible and unbelievable that we put everything we had into it after yesterday when things weren’t going so well for either of us.
“I don’t know if it meant more than the recordings from two years ago, but after yesterday we came out,” she continued. “The conditions were challenging, but we had excellent boards and the team believed in us. We saved our energy and did it today. The following measure is to double your efforts the following time.”
“It’s difficult to put into words,” said Pat Sharples, head coach of GB Snowsport. After yesterday’s disappointment, Charlotte and Huw’s victory is all the more special.
“Huw performed as well as we have ever seen him in competition and demonstrated he will be a major contender in this sport for many years to come. Once again, Charlotte demonstrated she’s the best in the world.”
