Josie medals in World Championship debut

NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Josie Baff has claimed Australia’s fourth medal at the FIS World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia, with a silver medal performance in the snowboard cross event.

The medal is even more impressive considering it’s her first start at a world championship event, and adds to a successful season where she recorded the first world cup victory of her career and a second podium earlier in December.

With bad weather expected over the coming days in Georgia, the event – originally scheduled for Friday – was moved forward two days to ensure the race was ran in the best conditions possible.

Josie was in great form in the early heats, winning her round of 32 and quarter-final races to advance through to the semi-finals.

She crossed the line in second place in the semis to advance through to the big-final medal round, up against past Olympic gold medallists Lindsey Jacobellis of the USA and Eva Adamczykova of the Czech Republic.

Josie moved from third place to second halfway down the course in the big-final and managed to find space and comfortably remain in the silver medal position from that point to the finish line, finishing behind Adamczykova who took the victory with Jacobellis in third place.

“I kind of just let out a little squeal, and I was like, wow this is really, really cool, and then after a few minutes it sunk in and I kind of realised what I had done,” said the 20-year-old Jindabyne rider.

“It was a long day, and the runs were long and exhausting, so I was really happy that my legs were able to hold it together for that last run.

“It’s really nice to have this medal and I’m so grateful for my coaching team and the wax technicians who did an amazing job of making my boards speedy, so I’m very happy.”

In the men’s event, NSWIS athlete Cameron Bolton and Adam Lambert had a strong day reaching the semi-final round, just missing out on advancing to the big-final after finishing third and fourth in the same heat.

In the small-final, Bolton narrowly missed crossing the line in first in a photo finish, giving him a final ranking of sixth, with Lambert in eighth, making it three top-eight performances for Australia.

Tonight (AEDT) in Bakuriani, the Snowboard Cross Teams event will be taking place, with Australia represented by Josie and Cameron.

NSWIS