Just days before the Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, the young Team GB members who think nothing of flying 30ft in the air while spinning like gyroscopes have once again proved they have the X factor. On Friday last week Mia Brookes, 19, soared to X Games gold in the snowboard slopestyle in Aspen. Zoe Atkin, 23, followed suit in the freeski superpipe and before the weekend was through Kirsty Muir, 21, added a third gold in the freeski slopestyle, along with a big air silver.
All told it was a hugely successful time for GB Snowsport. The previous week Charlotte Bankes won her first World Cup snowboard cross event since breaking her collarbone in China in April. Little wonder, then, that Atkin is bullish about the British skiers’ and snowboarders’ chances in Italy.
