Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale win historic snowboard cross gold for Great Britain

BySportsbeat

Updated 02/03/2023 at 21:04 GMT

Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale stormed to mixed team snowboard cross gold at the World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia. The win is Great Britain’s first world title in the mixed team version of the event. Austria's Jakob Dusek and Pia Zerkhold came second, while France's Merlin Surget and Chloe Trespeuch took the bronze. Stream the 2023 Snowboard World Championships live on discovery+

'Look at these scenes here!' - Bankes and Nightingale celebrate stunning team gold

Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale made history by becoming Great Britain's first ever mixed team snowboard cross world champions.

The pair won by 0.88 seconds from Austria's Jakob Dusek and Pia Zerkhold, while France's Merlin Surget and Chloe Trespeuch came third in a thrilling final.

Nightingale was just 0.07 seconds off the lead when he handed over to Bankes and the 2021 individual world champion dominated the women's field to claim Great Britain's second gold of the championships, following Mia Brookes' slopestyle win on Monday.

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"I can't quite believe it," Bankes said. "I don't know if it meant more than the singles two years ago, but after yesterday we came out.

"The conditions were tricky, but we had great boards and the team had belief in us.

"We saved our energy and did it today."

The gold comes after Bankes failed to defend her individual snowboard world title and Nightingale failed to qualify for the men’s finals.

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“It’s sort of hard to put today into words," said GB Snowsport head coach Pat Sharples.

"After the disappointment of yesterday, today’s win for Charlotte and Huw makes it even more special. Huw performed at his absolute best we’ve ever seen him in competition and shown he’s going to be a big contender in this sport for many years to come!

“Charlotte Bankes once again proved she’s the best in the world. Huge props to the team behind the team; the coaches and support staff. Every one of them deserves this win.”