Britain’s Charlotte Bankes makes it five World Cup wins in a row for with Veysonnaz victory

Charlotte Bankes won her fifth World Cup title in a row with victory in the women’s snowboard cross in Veysonnaz.

Bankes survived a scare in the final as she landed on Australian Josie Baff’s board midway through the race, before fighting back to take the win.

In the men’s race, Martin Noerl of Germany kept his bid for the Crystal Globe alive with the victory as Spain’s Alvaro Romero claimed a first World Cup podium.

Bankes’ route to the final followed her performance in the final four as she had to fight back from third place to take the win in the semi-final.

In the final, Bankes moved into the lead at the halfway point before misjudging her landing to end on top of Baff’s board.

The two stayed upright and crossed the line separated only by world champion Eva Adamczykova of the Czech Republic as Baff beat out Chloe Trespeuch of France for the final podium place.

Bankes is now in pole position to claim the Crystal Globe with two World Cup races to go as she sits 68 points ahead of Trespeuch.

She said: “I’m really happy. It has been tight racing all day and that final was really tight. We were all changing positions and fighting for the same line.

“I was scared me and Josie would both go down, but we stayed on our feet. It was a tough battle and it was a fun race to watch and a fun race to be part of.”

In the men’s race, Noerl enjoyed a clean run to claim his second win of the season as Romero claimed his first-ever World Cup medal.

Lorenza Sommariva survived a review to claim bronze ahead of Eliot Grondin of Canada, meanwhile Spain’s Lucas Eguibar failed to get out of the first round to see him lose his lead at the top of the overall rankings.

Noerl now sits in first with two races in Mont-Sainte-Anne to come next weekend.

Sportsbeat 2023.