LIVIGNO, Italy – Great Britain secured its first Olympic snowboarding medal on Sunday, as Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale triumphed in the mixed team snowboard cross event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. The pair navigated the challenging Livigno course to defeat Italy and France in a thrilling final, marking a historic moment for British snowboarding.
Bankes, a four-time Olympian, demonstrated her experience and skill with a crucial pass against France’s Lea Casta in the final, establishing a lead that Nightingale maintained. Italy’s Michela Moioli overtook Casta to claim the silver medal, while Casta and teammate Loan Bozzolo settled for bronze.
“I’m happy with my riding all day. I found it again, which I’ve been struggling with for the last week here,” Bankes said after the race. “At last I found some speed and made it count. I really used my carving, the drafting, made the right choices and that’s where it pays off.”
Nightingale, competing in his first Olympics, expressed his excitement at the historic win. “It’s unbelievable. GB on a whole is doing great on the snowboard side,” he stated.
The French team’s strategy in the final involved Loan Bozzolo attempting to create a drafting opportunity for Casta. “I did my best in the run. I knew that the best solution was to give a huge gap to the second rider,” Bozzolo explained. “This track is flat at the conclude, [Casta] was drafted from the second last turn. I knew it was impossible to be first, because Charlotte and Michela are strong at the finish line. This was the best solution for today.”
The victory too held significance for Italy’s Michela Moioli, who now shares the record for the most Olympic medals in snowboard cross with Austrian Benjamin Karl and New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, with four medals each. Moioli’s late surge past Casta in the final underscored her competitive spirit. “I like struggling sometimes. I like starting from the back,” Moioli said. “Something came into my mind and I just tried to take as much speed as I could.”
Australia’s Josie Baff and Adam Lambert finished fourth in the final. Lambert’s race was hampered by a collision with Italy’s Lorenzo Sommariva, resulting in a 4.48-second penalty that Baff was unable to overcome.
The quarterfinals saw several unexpected results. Austria’s Jakob Dusek and Canada’s Eliot Grondin initially led their heat, but both teams were ultimately eliminated. Bankes’ performance was pivotal in securing Great Britain’s advancement, as she overtook Audrey McManiman of Canada and Pia Zerkhold of Austria in a close finish with Australia’s Mia Clift. “Pia was awesome and then the draft at the bottom just cost her a little bit,” Dusek said of his teammate’s performance. “The luck wasn’t on our side today, which is unfortunate, but we showed that we are super prompt and People can race.”
Germany’s Jana Fischer and Leon Ulbricht caused an upset in the third quarterfinal, defeating the favored French team of Jonas Chollet and Chloe Trespeuch. France’s Aidan Chollet and Julia Nirani-Pereira secured fifth place overall after a narrow victory over Switzerland’s Noemie Wiedmer and Kalle Koblet in the minor final.