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Few sports at the Winter Olympics are more thrilling or turbulent than snowboard cross. The idea is simple. Four competitors, a steep mountain, ramps, and whoever gets down quickest to the bottom first wins. But jeopardy lurks on every sharp turn and steep bank. And calamities are an unfortunate fact of life.
Team GB’s Charlotte Bankes knows this better than anyone. Four years ago in Beijing she arrived as a gold medal favourite only to leave in tears after finishing ninth. On the brightest of sunny days history repeated itself. Hopes. Dreams. Expectations. Another ninth-place finish. And more tears.
“It’s just a disappointing performance for me, and I’m just sorry for everybody,” the 30-year-old said. “Because that’s kind of what I feel like. I disappointed everybody. Sorry, I was hoping to put on a better show. It can be cruel.”
“I’ve been performing well on the World Cup circuit and at the world championships over the last four years,” she added. “We came here in a strong position but unfortunately it didn’t come together today.”
If there was any consolation, it was that the two women who beat her in her quarter-final ended up taking gold and silver – with Australia’s Josie Baff winning the final and the Czech No 1 seed Eva Adamczykova coming second. Italy’s Michela Moioli claimed the bronze.
The first sign that things weren’t going entirely to plan was in the timed seeding run on Thursday morning. Because she only finished ninth of 32 competitors, Bankes knew she would have a harder run to the final.
Her first round race went well enough with a smooth victory. But in her quarter-final she was quickly in last place despite a decent start. Bankes is famed for her speed and her power but try as she might she couldn’t get ahead of the Swiss star Sina Siegenthaler, while Adamczykova and Baff, who was seeded 17th, were pulling clear.
“I feel like I’ve done exactly the same as four years ago,” Bankes said. “We have worked incredibly hard to improve that but I haven’t made any difference today. I have been struggling with the track all week but we thought we found solutions. I really wanted this one. Too many mistakes.”
Asked about the quarter-final she added: “In the pack behind I didn’t manage to make the right choices. Everyone is racing incredibly well and I just didn’t manage it. I am normally good at making the overtakes and I kind of made a good start until I made a mistake and that killed my speed. I didn’t manage to find the space.”
Bankes will get a chance of redemption when she partners Huw Nightingale in the mixed event on Sunday. The pair were world champions in 2023 and she believes they can win a medal again.
“I’m still confident going into the team event,” she added. “There are no issues with the track – I just haven’t ridden at my best this week. We’ve seen before how quickly things can turn around in our sport. It’s tight racing and anything can happen.”
