WITH the eyes of the sporting world currently on Pyeongchang in South Korea and the Winter Olympics, a snowboarder from Whitchurch is targeting a place at the next Games in China in 2022.

Chris Gregory, a Royal Engineers Army Commando from Tavistock, is on secondment through the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme and the Army’s elite athlete programme with the Team GB snowboard (SBX) racing squad.

The snowboarder is part of a squad who have been training hard for the last four months from their base in Mayrhofen in Austria.

The 27-year-old discipline is the visually exhilarating snowboard cross (SBX), where four or six riders will race neck and neck down a track that consist of jumps, banks and bends.

With team member Zoe Gillings-Brier currently competing at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the remainder of the SBX team are supporting her from afar and competing in FIS (International Ski Federation, the world’s governing body) international competitions.

Their aim is to accrue enough international FIS points for Olympic qualification in four years’ time.

Chris’s first competition in GB colours was over last weekend against stiff continental competition in Pec pod Snezkou Czech Republic. Chris, who was making his full international debut, started the competition as the lowest seed.

After two days of racing, he achieved an amazing top ten finish.

His father Lance from Whitchurch told Times Sport: ‘All the hard work and training back in Austria has paid off and Chris along with another athlete from Devon, George Long Howell, have been selected as the two GB athletes to represent the country at the Japanese FIS and national competitions in Kurikoma Akita, Japan next month.

‘The future for GB SBX looks bright for the country and Devon in particular.

‘He is on a four year programme and the next Olympics is his best chance.’