The Delancey British Alpine Championships

First up was the National Championship Giant Slalom and I was bib 11. I was feeling ready to race and to give it my all! The weather really clouded in, the light was bad and most of the course was covered in fog. I had a good run until I reached the last steep and I got late on a gate and I was thrown out of the course. I did a little 360° before getting myself back together and reaching the finish line.

My time wasn’t even that bad so I was upset knowing that I would have had a pretty good run time without my mistake. I knew I had nothing to lose on the second run and I really wanted to prove myself in amongst the other British Girls. I was sitting in 15th place so I was going 16th on the second run. The fog had cleared and the sun was shining. I had a fantastic run; I won the run by 0.5 seconds and I was 1.4 seconds faster than the best British girl. It was probably the best run of my season and I was really, really happy with my skiing. I couldn’t wait for the Junior GS race to go for two great runs. Despite my mistake in the first run I still finished in 5th place overall and 3rd Brit.

Next up was the National Championship slalom race. I haven’t done any slalom in a while so I wasn’t expecting anything amazing. I really enjoyed myself though and my run times weren’t too bad considering I was up against some good slalom specialists. It was a no medal day for me though but the next day was the Junior Giant Slalom and I wanted the top spot on the podium!

Unfortunately the girls were running after the boys in the GS so the piste was bit bumpy but I was going bib 1 so I couldn’t really complain! I had a pretty good first run and I was in the lead by 0.3. My coach set second run so I was feeling confident. I knew I had to really go for it and ski like I had nothing to lose. I won the second run by 0.5 and therefore won the race by 0.8 seconds. I was really happy with my skiing and my coach later told me that I had even made a big mistake and has lost about a second on the second run! I took home the National Junior Giant Slalom title, finishing 2.3 seconds ahead of the next British girl.

The week was coming to an end and the last day was the Junior Slalom. I had already worked out that I had done what I needed to in previous races to win the Overall titles so I could really go out and enjoy myself in the slalom without having to worry. My first run wasn’t good but I had up for it with the fourth fastest time on my second run and I was happy to finish in 8th place. I was completely knackered by the end of the week but it was really great fun. In the end I came away as British Ladies Champion, Junior Champion and U21 Champion. It was a relief to be able to defend my titles from last year!

There are still are few more races left for this season and it seems like winter isn’t over yet. Tignes received over a meter of snow on Sunday night and it is still snowing now so get you powder skis back out and head over!