Charlotte Bankes: Briton wins snowboard cross silver at World Championships

Britain's Charlotte Bankes has won Britain's first ever World Championship medal in snowboarding.

The 23-year-old took silver in snowboard cross at the Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships in Utah, with Eva Samkova of the Czech Republic winning gold.

British-born Bankes was making her GB debut, having represented France at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics.

"It's great to be enjoying snowboarding again, to be pain free," said Banke.

Bankes, who came close to quitting the sport as she was in "constant pain", moved to France with her parents at the age of four and began competing internationally for her adopted nation at 15 in 2010.

However, a crash the year after left her with a fractured pelvis and despite reaching two Olympic Games and claiming multiple World Cup honours, Bankes has been unable to train to full intensity since that day.

Although the French Ski Federation funded surgery and therapy she was frustrated by their inability to find a cure and after a "disappointing" seventh place finish at the 2018 Winter Olympics she decided a change was needed.

"There was no way I could actually continue with the French," she told BBC Sport. "It was either switch, or stop snowboarding."

She was allowed to leave the French team and had a summer of intense rehabilitation in London before being selected to compete by the country of her birth.