Charlotte Bankes crashes out in snowboard cross quarters in big Team GB blow at Winter Olympics 2022
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Updated 09/02/2022 at 10:16 GMT
The snowboard cross world champion, who previously competed for France, looked to be cruising through to the semi-finals, but quickly went from first to third to miss out on progressing any further. Bankes was viewed as Britain's best chance of winning gold in Beijing. Watch every moment of the Games on discovery+.
'Bankes is out!' - Team GB star suffers heartbreak in 'big shock'
Team GB's hopes of winning gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics look to be fading, after Charlotte Bankes failed to progress past the snowboard cross quarter-finals.
The world champion looked to be cruising through to the semis, but quickly went from first to third to miss out on going for a medal.
The 26-year-old went into the Games in the form of her life, leading the World Cup standings and having won half of the six races she had entered this season. Her medal hopes looked strong in Beijing, having qualified second quickest in the seeding run and then easing through her first race.
But in the quarter-finals, there was a big shock. Bankes was in the lead but made a mistake on one corner, running too wide to allow Tess Critchlow to come up on the inside, taking the Canadian from third to first, leaving Bankes battling with Faye Gollini for second.
Australian Belle Brockhoff blindsided both of them, producing a brilliant final jump to steal second, knocking Bankes out.
"Honestly at the moment I can't explain, it's not an easy day today, it's windy," Bankes told BBC Sport.
"It's a very dense field and I made a mistake on bank five, I think. It's not been an easy bank, we've tried to find solutions and maybe I didn't do a perfect bank. It was a tight race and unfortunately it didn't go my way.
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"Belle didn't do good qualis, was struggling all morning and then managed to stick it down there - I had a really good training day yesterday, this morning was going well too, so I don't know what happened.
It was frustrating to do it today, I've had a great season so far and it's my worst result of the season.
Only two British reigning world champions went into Beijing - Bankes and the mixed doubles curling team of Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds - and neither have been able to reach the podium.
There are still hopes for a British medal, but they are fading. The men's and women's curling teams are likely to be in contention, as are freestyle skiers Zoe Atkin and Kirsty Muir in halfpipe and slopestyle respectively. The men's two and four-man bobsleigh teams are likely to challenge, while skeleton has produced surprises since Turin 2006.
'One of our gold medal potentials' - Morgan
Eurosport expert and 2018 snowboard bronze medallist Billy Morgan explained why her mistake on Bank 5 was so costly.
"If it’s midway down the course, that tiny little loss of speed, you carry that loss all the way down through the rest of the course as well," he said.
Morgan added: “I know how much pressure she was under, she was one of our gold medal potentials. You’re trying to concentrate on just doing your sport and having all that on top of you as well just gives you extra pressure.
“There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes, all the coaches, your family and friends, all of the support from your nation. When you don’t do as well as you want in your event, it’s not just you that you might feel let down about. It’s so many people."
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