Today marks exactly a year since the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics kicked off, but CEO of British Ski and Snowboard Dave Edwards insists he is now looking forward to building on that record-breaking Games at Pyeongchang in three years time.
Team GB certainly enjoyed their trip to Sochi, Jenny Jones kicking things off in style as she became the first Briton to win an Olympic medal in a snow event after winning snowboard slopestyle bronze.
Following Jones’ feat, Jamie Nicholls and Billy Morgan followed this up with top-ten finishes in the men’s snowboard slopestyle.
And although no more medals were won in skiing and snowboarding, Team GB returned to home soil securing the best ever results for British skiers and snowboarders at a Olympic Winter Games with six top-ten finishes, five top 20s and three top 30s.
But the good times didn’t stop in Sochi as earlier this month British Slopestyle skier Katie Summerhayes secured a silver medal at the World Freestyle Ski and Snowboard Championships in Kreischberg, a first for British skiing.
Summerhayes’ result was complemented by several other outstanding performances in Kreischberg, with Morgan finishing seventh in the snowboard big air and James Machon finishing eighth in the ski halfpipe.
James Woods also continued to show that he is amongst the world’s best slopestyle skiers, finishing fifth at the X Games with, what he described as, ‘the run of his life’.
Andrew Musgrave far exceeded anything ever achieved by a British Nordic athlete when he was the fastest skier in a World Cup race at the Tour de Ski earlier this month, and all of this has given Edwards hope for the future.
“Those of us who have helped to rebuild international skiing and snowboarding in Great Britain are rightly tremendously proud of what we have achieved in five years, particularly our record-breaking results in Sochi,” Edwards said.
“However, there is much more to do. We have high ambitions for our teams and athletes and we will continue to work hard to create the right development opportunities as we look ahead to more podiums in World Cups and World Championships and medals in Pyeongchang in three years time.”
© Sportsbeat 2015