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| Unless you’ve had your head buried in the snow – you lucky devil! – you will have been glued to your telly over the last few weeks watching the Winter Olympics. |
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We had four budding UK snowboarders competing Zoe Gillings, Lesley McKenna, Adam McLeish and Ben Kilner (Ben’s Jibber jabber can be seen here)
Although there were no medals for the UK snowboard team we were really proud of our riders. They put up a good fight and stood their ground while giving us some exciting riding to watch in the meantime.
Pipe
Lesley has been competing for years and had been performing really well in practise. Unfortunately, as all the riders will tell you, the conditions were difficult with one side of the pipe in shadow. This meant one side was slushy and one side was icy. These were not conditions Lesley had practised in and she couldn’t adapt to the difference needed in speed meaning she did not qualify.
Parallel giant slalom
Having only been riding as a British rider for a year Adam McLeish (who used to ride for Canada) performed well. He was so close to qualifying it makes you sick but you cant win them all (unless your are Canadian)
Boarderx
Zoe Gillings Qualified in the top three all the way through her boarderx events until she twisted her knee in the semi’s and finally due to her injury did not finish. She has been hobbling around the athlete’s village on crutches but should be back in the UK tomorrow. Get well soon Zoe!
Pipe
Ben Kilner reached the semi finals guaranteeing himself 18th place. Now you might think this is not an achievement but when you are up against the likes of Louie Vito, Shaun White, Peetu Piiroinen and Scotty Lago and your only 21 I’d say its unbelievable. Ben is definitely one to watch!
I caught up with Colin Holden of the British Snowboard Association to get his view:
“It’s safe to say that the British riders have raised the bar in Vancouver. Zoë Gillings vastly improved on her previous Olympic result and was unlucky not to progress to the finals following a knee injury sustained in the semi-final. With two Olympics under her belt and continued World Cup successes, Zoë is already looking forward to Sochi 2014 with confidence.
Ben Kilner improved upon Dan Wakeham’s result in Turin (sorry Dan!) with the knowledge that his second run in the semi-final was close to seeing him progress even further. Typically Ben was disappointed in his semi-final runs but was happy overall that his target of reaching the semi-finals had been reached – another rider with plenty to look forward to over the next four years and a fantastic result in the bag.
Lesley McKenna could not hide her disappointment that she could not get her two qualifying runs down especially after some solid performances in practice sessions. We should not forget the fact that Lesley has successfully qualified for three consecutive Olympics and has been an inspiration to many of the younger riders in the UK today. Lesley is looking forward to assisting with coaching our future Olympians for Sochi 2014 and beyond.
Adam McLeish was a late but welcome addition to the Olympic Snowboard Team finishing a creditable 24th in the PGS having managed two clear qualifying runs in the fog and rain last Friday. In comparison to Turin 2006, Vancouver 2010 was a further step forward for British Snowboarding and an awesome experience for all those involved. The atmosphere was electric and the riding – as you would imagine – was unbelievable at times. We now start planning for Sochi 2014 and by the looks of it we have plenty to look forward to.”
i dont know about you but I just cant wait for the games to begin in Tignes! |
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