World Championship silver for Australia in snowboard cross mixed team event

Courtesy OWIA

Australia claimed its second medal at the 2025 FIS World Championships in St Moritz-Engadin, Switzerland, with a silver medal performance from the Australia 2 team of Mia Clift and Cameron Bolton in the mixed team event. The Australia 1 team featuring Josie Baff and Adam Lambert finished sixth.

The podium performance is 20-year-old Clift’s first international medal at the highest level, and the first World Championship medal for the 34-year-old Bolton.

Both Australian teams moved through the opening quarter-final round in second place to advance to the semi-finals.

In the semi-final, the Australia 1 team finished third in the opening semi-final, placing them in the small final and Australia 2 also finished in third, but was advanced to the big final after a controversial penalty for contact was given to female USA 1 team rider Acy Craig who had originally crossed the line in second, eliminating them from the competition.

In the big final, Clift and Bolton faced teams France 1, France 2 and Switzerland 1 and first to drop were the male riders with Bolton finishing in third, 0.54 seconds behind France 2.

Clift quickly made up the 0.54 second differential in a very impressive ride under pressure, battling the two French teams which featured the world’s number two and three ranked female riders. Clift passed France 2 by the halfway point of the course and in a tight battle with France 1 which saw both teams exchange the lead in the final section, with Julia Pereira De Sousa of France 1 crossing the line first, 0.20 seconds ahead of Clift, with Switzerland 1 finishing third. 

Next for the snowboard cross athletes is the final World Cup of the year in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, where a double event will take place on April 6 and 7. Baff is ranked fourth and Clift 10th on the women’s standings Bolton seventh and Lambert ninth in the men’s rankings.