It was a busy day for Team GB on day one of the European Youth Olympic Festival in Sarajevo, with the weather playing havoc to many events across the city.
Even though the women’s slopestyle snowboarding fell subject to the snowy conditions, the men’s competition got underway with all four Brits progressing to the next stage.
Fifteen-year-old Gabe Adams advanced directly to tomorrow’s slopestyle snowboarding final, producing an incredible run of 95.00 points to take him to the top of the standings.
Leon Drynan, Lewis Moore and Ethan Smith all produced solid runs to take them into the semi-finals, which get underway tomorrow morning.
It was two wins out of two for our mixed curling team, after an 8-3 victory against Czech Republic and a 7–2 win versus Turkey.
The team, skipped by Hamish Gallacher, return to round-robin action tomorrow against Austria and Denmark.
In the alpine skiing, Sarah Woodward earned herself a top-ten finish in the women’s slalom, evading tricky conditions to place ninth in a highly competitive field.
“I was really happy with today and how it went, I managed to pull out some of my better stuff, which I’m really pleased with,” said Woodward.
“The conditions weren’t the easiest they were quite challenging for everyone, but yes, I’m quite happy with how I managed to ski and secure the ninth position in the end.
Looking ahead to Wednesday’s giant slalom, Woodward was excited by the prospect of tackling the slopes of the Jahorina.
“Giant slalom is my favourite and that’s what I’m best at, I’ll be in the top seeded group – so I’ll have a better bib for that. I’m really looking forward to it” added Woodward.
“My training in giant slalom has gone really well - I’ve had a couple of good races in the lead up to this and had quite a good training block before it. Hopefully I can pull out some good skiing like I did today.”
Fellow Brits Daisi Daniels and Olivia Foster both secured top-30 positions, finishing 25th and 27th respectively, while it wasn’t to be for Victoria Palla after she recorded a DNF on her second run.
Elsewhere EYOF Flagbearer, Olivia Weedon led the way for short track speed skating by reaching the B final in the women’s 1500m and eventually completed her day in ninth position.
Teammates, Theo Collins and Ollie Rowe missed out on the chance to qualify beyond the early stages of the competition, placing 25th and 27th while 15-year-old Sophie Robertson finished 31st during the heats.
The British quartet came together in the afternoon to take on the mixed relay for the very first time and came ninth overall, ruling out progression to the semi-final.
Flagbearer Weedon said, “In the (B) final, I actually surprised myself a lot. I came second which is pretty impressive and I’m pretty chuffed with myself.
“I’ve raced a lot better than I have been doing for the last couple of months and it’s just nice to actually feel like I’m finally getting somewhere and actually improving.”
Day one also saw cross-country skiers Beinn Horsfall and Alexander Franks-Penty compete in the Igman region of Sarajevo in the men’s 10km interval classic technique.
Franks-Penty finished in 46th position, while Horsfall placed 64th in a 90-strong field. The pair will be back in action tomorrow, in the men’s 7.5km interval classic technique.
Elsewhere, Team GB’s athletes will compete in the men’s slalom, women’s slopestyle snowboarding qualifications and the women’s biathlon (6km sprint).