Recovery: getting back to peak fitness

Even the most experienced snowboarders crash out – it’s how they rebound that makes a champion

Snowboard cross star Charlotte Bankes on the podium in the Snowboard World Cup

Former snowboard cross World Champion Charlotte Bankes is working hard in the gym to be ready for the Winter Olympics after an April 2025 training accident left her with a fractured collarbone and knocked her out of contention for the overall World Cup title in the final race of the season.

Charlotte is no stranger to the risks of the sport, in which competitors race down a specially designed course filled with jumps, sharp turns, drops and other obstacles. She has previously broken her pelvis and endured an ACL reconstruction to replace a torn ligament in her knee. But her latest injury happened while she was leading the World Cup circuit and as the team was beginning to look towards the Winter Olympics in February 2026.

The risk to her Olympic dream is real. Complications have made her recovery slower than expected, but she’s making good progress thanks to her own determination, the support of GB Snowsport and the UK Sports Institute’s Intensive Rehabilitation Unit in Bisham Abbey – and she’s optimistic she will be back on world-beating form for the Games.

Staying resilient

“I fractured my collarbone before the last World Cup event in Canada. I overshot a jump, tried to save it and went over on my back. I was leading the World Cup circuit, which was the most frustrating thing at the time. But it was only my collarbone and I thought it would probably heal pretty quickly. If I was going to get injured, I thought that was the best injury to have. In hindsight, I’m not so sure.”

Charlotte was back on the snow within two months and everything seemed to be going according to plan – then an x-ray showed the bone wasn’t healing properly and she needed an operation. Afterwards she returned to the gym, but even pushing weights with her lower body was tough at first because she’d undergone a bone graft from her hip, and she couldn’t lift weights with her left arm until deep into the autumn.

“I was performing on the World Cup circuit last year, I had a very good season until the end, so we hoped things would be good going into this Olympic season. But this injury threw a curveball which has forced us to adjust. I need to keep putting the work in and bounce back. But I’ve had to come back from injuries before and it’s what you do the next day that counts, still putting in the work and just pushing as hard as you can.”

Mitigating risks

“Crashes can happen, but we do everything we can to try to mitigate those risks by working on our skills so that we can adapt to all the tracks. It’s not like we can train for one track and they’re always the same. Each place we go to is different, and so we have to adapt, because the risks change with the track and with the snow condition.”

Charlotte relies on her experience to manage risk during a race. For example, when she’s racing and a small gap opens between the competitors, she aims to go through it at high speed and instinct takes over so that she automatically adapts to the situation.

“This injury has taught me a lot about the importance of working with the team,” she adds. “It’s an individual sport, but this has brought together a lot of people with a lot of different skill sets, such as physios and biomechanics specialists, to put me in the best position for the bone to heal. I’m not a medical expert, so I have put my trust in them.”

Recruiting talent

The addition of Charlotte to the British team was a coup for GB Snowsport. She previously competed for France, having grown up in the Alps after her family moved from Hemel Hempstead when she was just four years old. But she was attracted by the culture of the British team, which prioritised the athletes and their wellbeing, and in 2018 she switched allegiance. She was World Champion in 2021, World Champion in the mixed team event in 2023 and won a silver in the 2025 World Championships.

“Some people might say Britain stole me from the French, but I went to see the British team, to see if it was possible for me to switch,” says Charlotte. “I would probably have stopped in 2018, but they opened the door to me and gave me their full support.”

Charlotte plans to be back on the slopes in November and chasing World Cup medals from mid-December – all in the service of sharpening her edge in time for the Winter Olympics.

Charlotte Bankes

Former snowboard cross World Champion