Winter Olympics: Charlotte Banks wins her first World Cup since injury

Britain’s Charlotte Banks won her first World Cup ski race since breaking her collarbone in April with a dominant display in Dongbya.

The 30-year-old showed she was in good form ahead of the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, moving through the heats in the Chinese resort as the fastest athlete, then winning her quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Banks then triumphed in the Grand Final, ahead of Australia’s Josie Pugh and France’s Chloe Tresboix to clinch her second World Cup event of the season.

The win is Banks’ first podium finish since taking bronze at the Montavon World Cup in March, and her first win since the Gudauri World Cup in the same month.

Having fully recovered from the injury she sustained at last season’s World Cup finals, the two-time Crystal Globe winner now looks set to compete for an Olympic medal in Italy.

Banks, then world champion, was eliminated in the quarterfinals at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

The second set of races will be held in Dongbia on Sunday, while the 2026 Winter Olympics open on February 6.

Meanwhile, Neil Simpson topped the podium for the third time this week by claiming silver in the Super-G World Cup races in Saalbach on Friday.

Racing alongside mentor Rob Booth, Simpson secured his first ever podium finish at the Super G World Cup in the discipline in which he won gold at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games and the 2023 World Championships.

The 23-year-old Scot had already won bronze medals in back-to-back World Cup Downhill races earlier in the week.