Freestyler Gus Kenworthy Switching From The U.S. Team to Great Britain
It has been announced that the International Ski Federation has accepted that application, with immediate effect, for USA Freestyle skiing champion Gus Kenworthy to switch to competing for Great Britain, the land of his birth.
Part of Kenworthy's decision to switch allegiances was for a better path to compete at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in 2022. After two challenging seasons involving multiple injuries and a drop in his performance when he was able to compete, not to mention an increasingly difficult qualification process in the USA due to the amount of freeskiing talent, Kenworthy feels that it's a wiser choice to ski for Great Britain.
"I am also doing this for my mother who was born and lived in the UK for much of her life - she has always been my greatest supporter throughout my career. She taught me to ski when I was three years old and is the reason I compete today. It’s great to now be representing GB - a country which means so much to me and my family." - A quote from Kenworthy, via a GB snowsports press release.
Kenworthy does hold dual citizenship, as he was born in Chelmsford, Essex and his mother is a UK national, making for a fairly straight forward process in submitting his application to switch teams.
Should Kenworthy follow his plan through to the end and qualify to compete for Great Britain on the Freeskiing world stage, Great Britain would be picking up a very talented athlete with plenty of world competition experience. Kenworthy has seven World Cup podiums, silver at the Sierra Nevada 2017 World Championships, five X Games podiums, and a silver medal finish at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games at Sochi.
It was also stated by Kenworthy that should he compete in Beijing in 2022, that would be his last Olympic appearance.
Thumbnail Credit: Gus Kenworthy/FB
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