Britain's no 1 Olympic snowboard cross athlete Zoe Gillings-Brier took dual podiums over the weekend at the European Cup competitions in Lenk, Switzerland. With a full European Cup field for both competitions, Zoe took bronze on saturday following a nail biting photo finish but ensured a near perfect race day on sunday winning Gold.
Having taken the best part of the last 12 months out of snowboard cross competitions to focus on training for her next Olympic Games, Zoe returned to full time competition on saturday in Switzerland to gauge her return form following her absence. Zoe qualified in 7th position and then put down a solid competition qualifying through her heats in 2nd place and ultimately finishing in 3rd place in the final.
After finding her feet and returning to race mode, Zoe went out on sunday at the second European Cup demonstrating a near perfect race. Zoe qualified in 1st position by over 0.5 seconds from the 2nd qualifier from a full 35 athlete field including the two previous days medalists. Zoe then went on to win both her quarter final, semi final and won Gold in the final by a considerable distance.
Zoe commented after the race, "Its been a fantastic weekend of competition. Its the first time in 12 years I have taken a year out of racing to focus on training, it felt really weird at first but I got stuck into my training and I'm seeing the results. It hasn't been easy, 12 yrs at the highest level of competition can come repetitive and tiresome but now I'm loving being back, I'm full of energy, excitement and really loving being back in full time competition. Its awesome!"
