Australia’s female wintersport athletes have made it a four medal weekend to open the World Cup season, with aerial skier Danielle Scott claiming a silver medal in Ruka, Finland, and snowboard cross rider Belle Brockhoff finishing with a bronze in Les Deux Alpes, France, overnight.

Earlier in the weekend mogul skier Jakara Anthony took gold in Ruka and Tess Coady silver in the snowboard big air in Beijing, China.

In the French Alps Belle Brockhoff had her first podium result in almost two years, with a bronze medal performance at the snowboard cross World Cup in Les Deux Alpes.

Brockhoff qualified for finals in third place, and won her quarter-final round to advance to the semi-final, where she was matched up against teammate Josie Baff. In the semi-final, Brockhoff again was the first across the line with Baff just missing out on advancing to the big final and medal round in third place.

In the final Brockhoff made a good start, but was unable to pass Chloe Trespeuch of France who took the win. Italian rider and 2018 Olympic Champion Michela Moioli was in second and Brockhoff third, registering the 15th World Cup podium of her career.

Baff finished third in the small final to decide places five to eight, giving her a final ranking of seventh.

“It feels great, it was actually a massive relief for me, I have trained so many new things this year like bindings, boards, coach, tech, just everything, just took a risk to change it up and it’s a big relief that its’ working for me so I am very excited,” said the 30-year-old Brockhoff from Melbourne.

“In the final we all went in pretty hot fighting for that number one position, turn four is really tight and Jana (Fischer) and I got close to each other and just made the best of what we had and it was a really good day for all of us.”

In the men’s event Cam Bolton followed up his good form from the team event on the previous day to finish in fifth place after winning the small final, with Jarryd Hughes 15th in his first World Cup event since the Beijing Olympic Winter Games in February 2022.

Also in action for Australia missing out on finals racing were Amber Essex in 17th in her World Cup debut, Mia Clift 19th, James Johnstone 60th on debut, Declan Dent in 62nd and Adam Lambert 63rd.

Next up for snowboard cross is the final World Cup before Christmas with a double event scheduled to take place in Cervinia, Italy, on December 16-17. 

Bell Brockhoff has continued her strong start to the World Cup snowboard cross season, claiming the silver medal overnight in Montafon, Austria.
 
The podium performance sees the 28-year-old from Melbourne move up to third place on the World Cup standings after two events.
 
Brockhoff reached the big final after taking out victories in the quarter and semi final heats. In a closely contested final with several lead changes, Brockhoff was just edged at the finish line behind Charlotte Bankes of Great Britain, with Chloe Trespeuch of France in third.
 
“It’s really good to be back on the podium”, said a happy Brockhoff after collecting the 13th World Cup medal of her career.
 
“I was a bit rusty at the opening World Cup in China, but it was good to get the cobwebs out and bring in some good momentum into this race.
 
In her second World Cup start, 18-year-old Josie Baff from Jindabyne had an impressive qualifying performance, advancing to finals in second place. Baff finished third in her quarter-final heat to give her a personal best ninth place finish.
 
“Definitely a little bit bittersweet today”, said the 2020 Youth Olympic Games gold medallist.
 
“Really stoked to get my first top ten result, but wished it was under different circumstances where I was happy with my riding and run top to bottom.”
 
“But as always, there are heaps of things to take away and put into action for the World Cup in Cervinia next week.”
 
Also in action for Australia was Jarryd Hughes (22nd), Mia Clift (26th), Cam Bolton (26th), Declan Dent (29th), Adam Dickson (33rd), Kobi Dent (47th) and Adam Lambert (57th).
 
The snowboard cross athletes will be back in action tonight competing in the mixed team event in Montafon. 2021 mixed team World Champion’s Brockhoff and Hughes will team up again for Australia.
 
The mixed team event will debut at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

Australia’s snowboard cross athletes have had a successful test run on the Beijing 2022 Olympic course, with Adam Lambert and Belle Brockhoff recording encouraging semi-final performances at the World Cup event in Secret Garden, China.
 
Lambert was particularly impressive and looks well suited to the Secret Garden track, qualifying for finals in seventh place, and rode well to record wins in the round of 32 and 16 to advance through to the semi-final.
 
In the semi-final round, Lambert had some good sections out front and led for parts of the race, but just missed out on advancing to the big-final in third place. Lambert bounced back in the small final, crossing the line for the win to finish the day ranked fifth overall.
 
“Not a bad week, I qualified seventh and finished fifth and I always try to beat my qualifying result so I am happy with that”, said the 24-year-old Olympian from Jindabyne.
 
“This course is really my style, I love gliding and flat basing, and I am short, which helps when there are head winds.
 
“China is definitely a different place, we are used to competing in Europe and North America, but all in all it was run really well.”
 
In the women’s finals, Brockhoff advanced through the quarter-final round in second place, and then had to face off in the semi-finals against Olympic gold medallists Eva Samkova of the Czech Republic and Michaela Moioli of Italy. In a tough race, Brockhoff just missed out on making it though to the big final in third place. In the small-final, Brockhoff finished second, to finish the event in sixth place.
 
“Mixed feelings from today, I came here to win, I know I have the ability and have the drive to, but it just didn’t come together for me at this race” said the 28-year-old Mixed Team World Champion from Melbourne.
 
“I had a heavy hit in training just before heats, but I powered through, so happy I can fight through like that.”
 
“They did a really good job here, they wanted to put on a good event, and they did, the track, accommodation and facilities for teams were well put together. Hopefully they can improve even further on that I am looking forward to the Olympic Games.”
 
The men’s event was won by Austrian Alessandro Haemmerle Eva Samkova taking the win in the women’s event.
 
Also in action for Australia was 2018 Olympic silver medallist Jarryd Hughes in 12th place, Adam Dickson 16th, Cam Bolton 31st, and in her World Cup debut 17-year-old Mia Clift finished 22nd.
 
The snowboard cross athletes will next be in action when the World Cup tour resumes in Montafon, Austria, with the single event on December 10 and mixed-team event on December 11.