Dear SBX and SB Alpine Community,

What an amazing international racing season we have just experienced in an Olympic year. Despite the majority of riders missing the last couple of seasons due to Covid disruptions, Aussie SBX and SB Alpine riders spent a lot of time in the northern winter and achieved a lot of Australian and personal best results on the international stage.

Some notable milestones and achievements include:

• Six SBX athletes were selected to compete at the 2022 Beijing Olympics with 4 male and 2 female athletes.
  • Belle Brockhoff
  • Josie Baff
  • Cameron Bolton
  • Adam Dickson
  • Jarryd Hughes
  • Adam Lambert
     
• Australia’s best individual female result with Belle Brockhoff finishing 4th in the Olympics Games
• Australia qualified two mixed teams at the Beijing games.
• Josie Baff was awarded the ‘Rookie of the Year’ at World Cup level.
• 3 NSWIS athletes made their world cup debut – Mia Clift, Declan Dent and Kobi Dent.
• A total of 24 Australian FIS registered athletes raced in Europe or North America – ranging from World Cups to Junior events.
• Seven junior athletes made their debut into SBX FIS level events whilst overseas.
• 10 podium results were achieved across the season – a great result with so many athletes experiencing time out of the sport.
• Millie Bongiorno had her best season ever in Alpine SB with multiple top 8 EC results and competed in World Cup events.
• Harvey Edmonson also made his World Cup debut and also competed with Millie in team events for the first time for Australia.
   

No doubt we are all looking forward to a more normal domestic winter season with plenty of on and off snow training and racing opportunities.

Keep a watch out for some exciting announcements to be made before the winter kicks off.

Rob Dickson
Chair - National Snowboard Committee. 

The 2022 Snow Australia Awards was an exciting night, celebrating the achievements of our Snowsports Athletes fromthe past 12 months. In the Paralympic disciplines, Ben Tudhope made it three in a row taking the Athlete of the Year Award, after winning in 2020 and 2021.

The 22-year-old snowboarder edged fellow award finalist para-alpine skier Josh Hanlon courtesy of six World Cup medals (including five golds) which paved the way to his second consecutive Crystal Globe as overall World Cup para-snowboard champion.

Tudhope also won two medals at the World Para Snow Sports Championships in Norway and claimed the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL2 bronze medal at the Beijing Paralympic Games. 

The Emerging Talent Program (ETP) is a Talent Identification and Development (TID) program which aims to identify, support and enhance preparation of potential performance athletes for transition into the Performance Pathway. 

The 2021/22 Emerging Talent Program cohort consisted of 73 athletes aged between 11 and 19 years old. There were 36 females and 37 males over the six disciplines. Seven athletes were added to the 2021/22 cohort following domestic season reviews with each discipline (5 Moguls, 1 P&P Freeski, 1 Snowboard Cross). 

Josie Baff has a had a memorable finish to the World Cup season in Veysonnaz, Switzerland, recording a personal best seventh place and taking home the FIS Snowboard Cross Rookie of the Year award.

In the semi final, Baff was unable to progress to the big final in fourth, and finished in third place in the consolation small final to give her a personal best overall ranking of seventh.

Each month the Snowboard Committee will put the spotlight on an Australian Snowboard athlete to learn more about them as they train and compete around the World. This month focuses on National Snowboard Team Member Millie Bongiorno.

We experienced a second competition season juggling the effects of the global pandemic as well as facing the pressure of heading into an Olympic season. With this in mind, the SBX discipline has received amazing support from our lead organisations.

We were able to train on a high level SBX track built and supported by Snow Australia, OWIA and Mt Hotham resort. A big thank you to all for the massive support that the Snowboardcross discipline received during the 2021 Domestic Season.

With a disrupted domestic season training in NSW and Victoria the NSWIS athletes headed north in mid-October for the Northern winter. With over 22 months out of the sport, 3 NSWIS athletes were able to make their World Cup debut in the 2021/22 season.

Mia Clift debuted at the China World Cup test event prior to the Olympic Winter Games, finishing with a great result of 22nd. Brothers Declan and Kobi Dent made their first appearance in Montafon Austria with Declan Dent finishing a respectable 29th and Kobi with a 47th. With it being an Olympic year the World Cup fields were loaded with the World's best riders.  

The traditional Snow Australia Snow Sales will be back in 2022 with events once again organised in Canberra and Jindabyne. Snow Sales are the perfect opportunity to mingle with the snow community and buy and/or sell new and pre-loved snow sports equipment ahead of the winter season.

The Canberra Snow Sale will be held on Saturday May 14 at the Former Transport Depot, the same venue that hosted the event in 2021. In Jindabyne, the Snow Sale will be held on the Queen's Birthday long weekend at the Memorial Hall, with the sale day on Saturday June 11.