OUR OLYMPIANS
As the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics draw closer, here’s a guide to the GB Snowsport athletes in contention for Team GB.
The stakes are high…
Words Nicola Iseard
ALPINE
Dave Ryding
Preston, YOB 1986
Dave became an overnight star when he came 2nd in the January 2017 Kitzbühel Slalom World Cup. The first British Alpine skier to secure a World Cup podium in 35 years, Dave started skiing aged six at his local dry slope, Pendle Ski Club, and already has three Winter Olympic Games under his belt.
Laurie Taylor
Aldershot, YOB 1996
Laurie started skiing when he was six years old on a family holiday. He joined the Aldershot ski race team when he was nine and then skied with the British Ski Academy, based in Les Houches, France, for 10 years. Laurie had a good start to the 2021 season, achieving both 1st and 2nd place Europa Cup podiums.
Charlie Raposo
London, YOB 1996
Charlie started his life on skis aged seven in Verbier, Switzerland. Four years later, he found himself racing through gates. His racing career had its first roots in Verbier, but his journey took him from British racing team Ambition, to Green Mountain Valley School in Vermont USA, and onto the Global Racing private team where Charlie continued his pursuit to race on the World Cup circuit. Fast forward to 2020 and Charlie is competing on both World Cup and European Cup tours.
Billy Major
Cambridge, YOB 1996
Billy started skiing at a young age during winter ski holidays in France. After an impressive start to 2021 with his first ever Europa Cup win, his sights are firmly set on Beijing 2022.
Charlie Guest
Perth, YOB 1993
In 2019 Charlie became the first ever British woman to win an Alpine European Cup race. Her winning streak continued in January 2020, when she took gold in Hasliberg, Switzerland. Charlie has already experienced the thrills of the Winter Olympics, having competed in PyeongChang in 2018 where she finished 33rd in Slalom and was part of the Team Event, which finished equal 5th.
Alex Tilley
Torphins, YOB 1993
A serious World Cup contender, Alex learned to ski in Scotland, leaving school at 16 to pursue a skiing career. She equalled her best ever result in the season opener in Soelden last month, but unfortunately sustained a leg fracture shortly after. It’s hoped she’ll recover in time for the Games.
FREESKI
James Woods
Sheffield, YOB 1992
Winner of multiple FIS World Cup and FIS World Championships medals, ‘Woodsy’ deserves his stellar status. Having learned his tricks at Sheffield’s Ski Village (read more on page 22), he took first place in Slopestyle at the 2019 Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Champs. Now, after a short break from his ski career, Woodsy is back and better then ever!
Tyler Harding
Halifax, YOB 1996
Tyler started freestyle skiing around seven years old, thanks to GB Snowsport Head Coach Pat Sharples. Having competed in several FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships, and in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Tyler has his sights set on Beijing 2022.
Chris McCormick
Glasgow, YOB 1998
Chris started skiing aged six at his local dry slope in Bearsden. Competing at World Cups in both Slopestyle and Big Air disciplines, some of his biggest achievements to date include a top 20 finish at the 2021 Corvatsch World Cup, and being crowned 2019 British University Big Air champion while studying physics at the University of Glasgow in 2019.
Katie Summerhayes
Sheffield, YOB 1995
Another Sheffield Ski Village protégée, Katie became the first British female skier to win a medal in a World Cup event in 19 years when she finished second in the Slopestyle competition in Silvaplana, Switzerland, in 2013. Having cut her teeth competing at both the Sochi and PyeongChang Winter Games, she’s eyeing up a medal at Beijing.
Kirsty Muir
Aberdeen, YOB 2004
Having achieved a slew of under-age titles, Kirsty Muir made the senior ranks stand up and take notice at the 2018 BRITS, when the then 13-year-old won all three Freeski titles – Big Air, Slopestyle and Halfpipe. In 2019, Kirsty won gold in her first Europa Cup Slopestyle and also bagged Freeski Big Air silver at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne. One to watch.
Izzy Atkin
Park City, YOB 1998
Izzy has been competing in freestyle comps since she was nine years old. In 2018 she won Great Britain’s first-ever Olympic skiing medal, with a Slopestyle bronze in PyeongChang. We are excited to see what she might be capable of in Beijing.
Gus Kenworthy
Essex, YOB 1991
Born in Essex, but raised in Telluride, Gus has a number of wins under his belt competing for the USA, including silver in Slopestyle at the Sochi Olympics. In 2019 Gus moved over to compete for Britain and in February 2020 won his first World Cup gold medal as a GB Snowsport athlete in the Halfpipe in Calgary.
Zoe Atkin
Park City, USA, YOB 2003
Stepping out of the shadow of her Olympic medal-winning older sister Izzy, Zoe is starting to make a name for herself in her own right. After a string of top five Nor-Am Cup results, Zoe won Halfpipe Silver at the Aspen World Cup this year and Bronze in the Halfpipe Ski World Championships.
FREESTYLE SNOWBOARD
Matt McCormick
Glasgow, YOB 1997
Matt has been riding since he was nine years old. He has come up through the ranks from GB Snowsport Junior Team to the Elite Junior Team, and after a successful 2011/2012 season moved into the senior snowboard team allowing him to travel and train as part of the full team.
Billy Cockrell
Sheffield, YOB 1999
Billy started snowboarding at the age of 13, when his family started going on annual winter holidays. Billy then started attending small comps around the UK snowdomes which got him hooked on freestyle. Some of his career highlights so far have been starting to ride on the World Cup circuit and taking 2nd place in the Laax Europa Cup in 2019.
Gabe Adams
Shropshire, YOB 2003
Gabe was selected to the GB Freestyle Snowboard Squad in 2018 after a breakthrough season. He went on to land gold in the 2019 Gotschen Europa Cup, while the following season, going from strength to strength, he won the Vars Europa Cup Big Air.
Katie Ormerod
Brighouse, YOB 1997
One of Team GB’s strongest medal contenders, at 15 years old Katie became the youngest girl to land a double backflip on a snowboard. A fractured her heel meant she missed out on competing at PyeongChang in 2018, but she had a fantastic 2019/20 comeback season, being crowned Snowboard Slopestyle Crystal Globe winner, the first British female as well as first British snowboarder to complete the feat.
NORDIC
Andrew Musgrave
Oyne, YOB 1990
Scotsman ‘Muzzy’ took up cross-country racing with his local club, Huntly Nordic Ski Club, before moving to Trondheim, Norway. He became a local hero when he won the 2014 Norwegian Championship, and then produced the best performance by a Briton in an Olympic cross-country event as he finished seventh in the men's skiathlon at the Pyeongchang Games.
James Clugnet
Grenoble, 1996
Born and raised in the mountains around Grenoble, France, by a French ski lover and an English mother, as soon as James was old enough to stand he was put on skis. He joined the British team at the age of 16 and made his World Cup debut in 2017. Last season he finished eighth in a World Cup sprint event – his best finish at that level.
Andrew Young
Huntly, YOB 1992
Andrew started skiing at the early age of two. In 2010 he moved to Norway to get better training conditions and more time on snow. It was clearly a good move – in 2015 Andrew became the first Briton to win a World Cup cross-country sprint medal with third place in Italy.
SNOWBOARD CROSS
Charlotte Bankes
Hemel Hempsted, YOB 1995
Born in Hemel Hempstead, Bankes moved to the southern French Alps with her family when she was just four years old. As well as scoring a World Cup podium and three Europa Cup victories, in February 2021 Charlotte became World Snowboard Cross Champion in Idrefjäll, Sweden.
MOGULS
Will Feneley
Shereford, YOB 1999
Having started as an alpine skier, Will found Slopestyle, then, at 14, he started mogul skiing and by 15 was travelling to Australia
to train moguls with AUSMSA. Part of the GB Snowsport Moguls team, he competed in his first World Cup tour two seasons ago.
Thomas Gerken Schofield
Chelmsford, YOB 1998
Thomas’ family moved to Châtel, France, in 2006 so he and his two sisters could train with the local Freestyle team. Having won the French National Championships and taken podium places at the Europa Cup and Junior World Cup, in 2020 Thomas made history after becoming the first British moguls athlete to win a World Cup medal with silver in Krasnoyark, Russia.
Leonie Gerken Schofield
Chelmsford, YOB 1998
Leonie joined the local Freestyle team in Chatel at the same time as her brother. However, her journey has not been an easy one – Leonie has endured two knee operations, three shoulder dislocations, a broken back and a herniated disc. But she has come back stronger than ever and is back to
competing on the World Cup circuit.
Makayla Gerken Schofield
Chelmsford, YOB 1999
Following in her brother and sister’s footsteps, Makayla started competing at the age of 12 and rapidly gained success obtaining podium positions regularly. In 2017 she competed in her first World Championships at Sierra Nevada.
SKI CROSS
Ollie Davies
Guildford, YOB 1997
At the age of eight, Ollie's family moved to France and a hobby became a passion when he joined the local ski club and started alpine racing. He began participating at the British Championships from age 14 and was selected for the British alpine squad. Ollie became the first Brit to compete in the Big Final at a Ski Cross World Championship in February 2021, where he placed 4th.
AERIALS
Lloyd Wallace
Shaftesbury, YOB 1995
The son of two former Olympic Freestyle skiers, Lloyd has Freestyle success in his blood. He made his Olympic debut in PyeongChang in 2018, landing a triple twisting triple somersault, the ‘full full full’, and placing 20th. As Britain’s sole Aerials contender for Beijing 2022, we are excited to see what new tricks he has up his sleeve.