Cold gold! Britain wins its first Olympics title on snow

This “Cold Gold” also marks the first time Britain has won multiple titles at the same Games. It's only the nation's 15th overall gold medal at the Winter Games, five of which have come in figure skating.

Its most famous Winter athletes to this point: possibly Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, the ice dancers who captivated the world by dancing to “Bolero” and captured a gold medal in 1984 and bronze in 1994.

In mixed snowboardcross, the first set of riders go down the mountain four-wide, while the second set waits at the top of the hill in something resembling a relay race. Whichever team crosses the line first in the four-team final gets gold.

There are three rounds of elimination racing. Fittingly, the British came into the final as the underdog — seeded 13th out of the 16 teams that qualified.

There were no real signs this was coming. Bankes finished 13th in the women's event and Nightingale 26th in the men's event last week. But everything came together on a sunny day in Livigno.

“The singles were tough but now there are tears of joy,” Nightingale said.

Mixed snowboardcross came into the Olympics four years ago, and America's Lindsey Jacobellis teamed with Nick Baumgartner to win gold a few days after Jacobellis broke through with her first title in the women's event.

Now another breakthrough. This gold adds to the skeleton title won two days earlier by Matt Weston.

“It’s unbelievable," Nightingale said. "GB on a whole is doing great on the snowboard side. ... We want to keep it going and inspire little kids to do it as well, and maybe one day they can get a gold medal.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics