GB snowboarder Brookes bids to defend title at Worlds

14 hours ago 1

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Great Britain's 2023 world champions Mia Brookes (snowboard slopestyle) and Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale (team snowboard cross) are looking to defend their titles at the 2025 Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships.

The event is taking place in Engadin, Switzerland and sees the world's best athletes compete in slopestyle, halfpipe, big air, ski and snowboard cross, parallel giant slalom, aerials, and moguls.

The Championships run until Sunday, 30 March, with coverage of selected finals available on iPlayer, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app (coverage details below).

Great Britain has sent an 18-strong team squad which includes current 2024-25 joint-Crystal Globe ski halfpipe holder Zoe Atkin, and Kirsty Muir, fresh from her World Cup win in Tignes. Eight of the team are making their debuts.

On the global front, USA's double Olympic champion in the snowboard halfpipe Chloe Kim has returned from a break from the sport in 2022-23 and looks rejuvenated.

New Zealand's reigning snowboard slopestyle Olympic champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott will be a big contender in her favourite event having also taken home the most recent X Games crown.

Elsewhere, expect a colossal battle between evergreen Austrian Anna Gasser and Brookes, who have both won big air World Cups this season.

On the men's side, PyeongChang 2018 Olympic champion Red Gerard will be one of Team USA's top hopes but will have to be at his best to overcome Canadian prodigy Cameron Spalding.

Japanese teenage star Hasegawa Taiga is the early favourite for gold in big air, while Olympic champion Hirano Ayumu is set for an epic battle with Hirano Ruka in halfpipe.