A drinking session, a punch on the nose and an equipment malfunction proved to be the unlikely recipe behind Team GB’s first gold medal on snow at the Winter Olympics – after 102 years of trying. Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale carved their way into history with a staggering display of nerve to win the mixed team snowboard cross in Livigno.
Having both bombed out of the individual events, the pair drowned their sorrows in a local pub. Yet on a magical afternoon everything came together. It nearly went wrong at the start when Nightingale was accidentally punched in the face in the opening round, leaving him dazed and finishing third. Bankes needed all her class to get them through.
More drama followed in the semi-finals when Bankes’s binding broke in the start gate, requiring an emergency repair with a screwdriver. 'It put a bit of stress on the coaches,' she said. 'But they were great.' In the final, Nightingale secured second place behind France, and Bankes then overtook French rival Léa Casta, finishing 0.43 seconds ahead of Italy for gold.
'I’ve been struggling all week but I really found my carving,' said Bankes. 'I just focused on myself and let the instinct do the talking.' Nightingale, born in Bolton but based in Austria, added: 'It just feels unbelievable.' The victory was the first leg of Britain’s greatest day at the Games, with Tabitha Stoecker and Matt Weston also winning gold later.
