They both stood on the podium at last year’s World Championships, then again at X-Games in January, and now British skiers Izzy Atkin and James Woods have hit the top three on the same day at the slopestyle World Cup at Seiser Alm, Italy.
On a great day for British skiing Jasmin Taylor also claimed silverware in Norway where she finished third in the parallel sprint at the Telemark World Cup, while Thomas and Makayla Gerken Schofield earned three podium appearances between them at the Moguls Europa Cup at Airolo, Switzerland.
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Olympic bronze medallist Atkin had to launch a second run charge to qualify for the top eight on Wednesday and she showed similar poise to come through the field today.
Atkin sat in seventh after the first run but sent down the best second run of the competition to score 80.40.
She then watched on as the next six skiers failed to pass her score and she took second place behind Caroline Claire (USA 84.00) while Canada’s Yuki Tsubota was third (80.00).
Since March 2017, Atkin has claimed her first World Cup victory and stood on the Winter Olympics, X-Games and World Championships podiums. In the last two years she has finished in the top 10 in 14 out of the 15 World Cup events she has entered.
Not to be outdone, James Woods has framed a fantastic 2017/18 season with podium appearances in New Zealand in August (1st) and now again in Italy in March (3rd).
Woods was in fourth after the initial final runs but jumped up to second with a score of 89.20, sitting just adrift of Andri Ragettli (SUI 89.20).
However Olympic silver medallist Nick Goepper (USA) came through on the last run of the competition with a score of 92.60 to take top spot on the podium.
“To finish off the World Cup season with two podiums, especially after the busy year with the Olympics, it’s sort of been a dream end to this chapter,” said head coach Pat Sharples. “The whole team have showed consistency at the highest level all year and have gone on to earn World Cup, X-Games and Olympic medals.
“I’m super proud of everyone from the athletes and coaches to the support staff who’ve all worked so hard to get us to where we are all today.”
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After failing to progress past the round of 16 yesterday, Jasmine Taylor was keen to make amends in today’s parallel sprint World Cup at Rjuken, Norway.
And she did just that, winning through to the semi-finals with victories over Goril Strom Eriksen (NOR) and second seed Argeline tan Bouquet (FRA).
That set up a semi-final against Beatrice Zimmerman (SUI), however Taylor unfortunately recorded a DNF and was relegated to the small final where she defeated Guro Helde Kjoelseth (NOR) to claim third place.
It is her 12th podium of the season and the 20th of her career ahead of tomorrow’s sprint event.
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Moguls siblings Thomas and Makayla Gerken Schofield had a day to remember at the Europa Cup in Airolo, Switzerland where they both stood on the podium.
Makayla was first to crack the top three when she was second in the single moguls before older brother Thomas made it a double by finishing third in the men’s event.
Thomas then stepped it up in the dual moguls later in the day where he was second to round out a fantastic day for the Gerken Schofield family and the new British Moguls programme.