Lillehammer 2016 comes to a close today. The 2016 Youth Winter Olympics, only the second of its kind, has showcased the best of young winter sport talent, and Team GB definitely made their mark. So what happened this week at Lillehammer, and who should we be watching out for? And the question on everybody’s lips, who’s on their path to Pyeongchang 2018 or Beijing 2022?
After our recent post about the rise of GB talent, we were hoping for big things from the younger members of Team GB at Lillehammer, and they definitely didn’t disappoint. Madi Rowlands started the medal wins with Team GB’s first ever Youth Olympic medal on snow (the three in 2012 were in ice sports), and on top of that it was a gold one! Madi rocked to first place in the ski halfpipe on February 14th, and followed that with a bronze medal in the ski slopestyle. We’re looking forward to watching Madi as she hopefully storms her way into the Winter Olympics and X Games in the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8GagvqGiR0
Away from skiing and snowboarding, Ashleigh Pittaway continued the notorious British success in the skeleton event with a gold medal. With Amy Williams and Lizzy Yarnold to aspire to, Ashleigh has plenty to live up to, and if this is anything to go by, we’re excited for the continued success of the British skeleton team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjzboyDD1tc – Ashleigh Pittaway
The monobob event made its debut at Lillehammer 2016, and Team GB’s Kelsea Purchall scored another bronze medal for Team GB’s tally. After its successful debut, we’re all hoping that the event is now on track for inclusion in the Winter Olympics so that Kelsea and the rest of Team GB’s hopefuls can continue competing at elite level. Unfortunately, after the male hopeful George Johnston’s finish in 3rd position after the end of the first run, he slipped back into 5th place and didn’t make the podium. IOC President Thomas Bach came to watch the finish of the women’s event so keep your fingers crossed for Beijing 2022!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtIGYtcli1I
Team GB competed in seven out of the 15 disciplines on display at Lillehammer and achieved medals in four of these! The rest of the team also deserve a mention for their stoic performances, and keep an eye out for these names in the future; Yasmin Cooper, Iain Innes, Annabel Chaffey, Aimee Davey, the curling team (Amy Bryce, Callum Kinnear, Mili Smith and Ross Whyte), Isobel Brown, Cal Sandieson, Lucas Gebauer-Barrett and Verity Lewis.
At the time of writing, there were still results to decide in the curling mixed doubles so we’re keeping our fingers crossed for more medals to add to Team GB’s tally of 4 including two gold and two bronze medals. Well done to all of Team GB who competed at Lillehammer 2016!
