Olympians and Junior World Champions have graced the ski cross podium in recent year at The BRITS but it was a host of teenagers which took centre stage today in an event which rewarded raw speed over cunning and tactics.
With conditions closing in, there was always the chance the ski cross titles would be determined by qualifying times alone, and so it ended up with the weather causing the cancellation of the head to head knockout rounds.
In the end it was a genuine young gun, 13-year-old Octavia Steiger who set the fastest qualifying time (57.77) which was enough to earn her top spot on the podium.
She edged Emily Keen (58.93) by just over a second while Imogen Smith (1:00.42) was third).
The race was good, conditions were tough but I thought I handled them well and it was very fun,” said Steiger. “The course was fun, it was different to last year which was good. It was challenging; it was a bit slow given the conditions but it was good.
“It was hard because it all had to be done on qualification times which is difficult. It’s hard because you don’t know where you are compared to everyone else but I think everyone handled it fairly well today.
British Junior World Championships representative cast a dominant figure in the men’s ski cross qualifying with his first run qualifying time of 53.67 setting an advantage of almost three seconds on the rest of the field.
While Tommy Dade (55.40) closed the margin by more than a second on the final run, Bingham’s time stood strong to hold onto the gold medal. Patrick Young (57.55) was a further two seconds back in third.
“I thought the course was really great,” said Bingham. “A great competition as always and such a good way to finish off the season.
“I’m delighted to be British champion. I took part in the Junior Worlds in Austria before this so it was just a great way to finish off the season.”