Tudhope’s golden start to the season and eyeing off Dew Tour hardware

Dual Winter Paralympian and reigning World Cup Champion Ben Tudhope has picked up right where he left off last season, winning gold and silver in his first two Para Snowboard World Cups of the season.

Tudhope competed at the Pyha World Cup last weekend, almost a year since his last World Cup appearance, but proved to the para snowboarding community that he wasted no time in the off season as the only consistent athlete to appear in both Big Finals in the World Cups on consecutive days.

Tudhope won gold in the opening World Cup event, ahead of Canada’s Alex Massie in second and USA’s Kieth Gabel in third. 

The following day, the 22-year-old was just pipped for the top spot by Matti Suur-Hamari from Finland with Evan Strong (USA) rounding out the podium in bronze.

Tudhope has a history of success in Pyha, having won three World Cup golds, two silver medals and a World Championships silver medal on the Finnish slopes. However, he said he wasn’t sure what to expect for his first competition back after almost a year out of the starting gate.

“It was hard to know how to line up for this first event because we haven’t seen our competition for so long,” he said,

“I was going into this event with no expectations and keen to gain competition experience again. So to come away with 2 podiums, including a gold, is an absolute honour and tells me that my training in the off-season has worked!

“I’m so thankful to all my supporters and sponsors who were able to get me to this moment.”

After a disrupted past couple of seasons due the the pandemic, the Sydney-based snowboarder said he was grateful his training and instincts kicked in when it was a strange feeling to be back in competition.

“We were training in Pyha for a while before the comp, so when the race day came, I didn’t get the competition feeling straight away because it just felt like just another day.” he said.

“Then when my coach said I had 10 minutes to go before my first run, everything came rushing through - nervousness and excitement all at once.

“Then I could focus on the strategy of how to get through all the rounds and send it in the final!”

Tudhope and his team had been based in Finland for a few weeks for the pre-season training, but are now in Copper Mountain, USA for the 2021 Dew Tour.

The two-time Crystal Globe winner placed 6th in the Dew Tour Men’s Adaptive Banked Slalom Final last year and 4th in 2018. This year, he’s aiming to improve upon those results as he works towards a third Paralympic Games at Beijing 2022 in March next year.

“I’m super keen for the Dew Tour, this is a massive event for the snowboard community and I’ve watched it since I was a kid, so it’s a privilege to be a part of the event,” he said.

“Then we got the rest of the season including World Champs and the Games.

“To start off the season so well is massive motivation for the remainder of the season to get ready for all the other events!” 

Tudhope will compete in the Dew Tour Men’s Snowboard Adaptive Banked Slalom at 9.45am local time on Friday 18 December (3.45am AEDT Saturday 19 December). Follow the event live via the Dew Tour YouTube page.