31 March 2023 , 09:43
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Charlotte Bankes says Britain’s Winter Olympic flop was a major catalyst for the nation’s avalanche of medals this year.
Bankes retained the overall Snowboard Cross World Cup title on Sunday with her sixth win of the season a year after crashing out when favourite for Beijing gold.
That capped a disastrous Games for Britain who failed to win a single medal until the curlers spared their blushes on the final day of competition.
A year on the Brits have salvaged more than pride with a run of success which has snowballed across the snow and ice sports.
Bankes said: "The Olympics is the races everybody sees and to not perform on that stage was tough.
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“On the World Cup circuit everybody knows you just had a bad day but for the wider public it's 'they're not performing'.
“That's what came back for the whole team in Beijing which was hard as it didn't reflect the season. But you just have to bounce back, which we have done.”
Bankes' Olympic disappointment in Beijing capped a largely forgettable campaign for Team GB (Corbis via Getty Images)Matt Weston became skeleton world champion, Brad Hall steered his four-man sled to European gold and Britain’s first world medal for 84 years.
Ice dance pair Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear took the world’s No1 ranking and 16-year-old Mia Brookes became the youngest world champion in snowboarding history.
"There's nothing better than serious failure to teach you some good lessons in life," GB Snowsport boss Vicki Gosling told the BBC. "It's painful, but you learn an awful lot. And then you get back on the horse.”
Matt Weston (above) was crowned skeleton world champion and Brad Hall's bobsleigh quartet (below) European champions and world silver medallists (Viesturs Lacis Rekords)
(Viesturs Lacis Rekords)Bankes insists the trials and tribulations endured by Team GB will stand them in good stead when the Olympics return to Europe for the first time in 20 years in 2026.
“They will all help us to get to Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in the best position possible to deliver as a team,” she said.
“It just shows we can do it, that hard work can pay off. We just have to believe in ourselves.”