Saturday 25th October saw the first of this season's FIS Alpine Ski World Cup races in Soelden in Austria. The Ladies GS was the first event of the calendar with Britain's Chemmy Alcott giving us a pleasant surprise and achieving her best ever result in this discipline.
Coming down third on the first run, Chemmy became the early pace setter and hung onto first place until Germany's Kathrin Hoetzl snatched it away 17 starts later. Chemmy's second run however was the fastest of the competition and gave her 10th place overall. This will surely help the 26-year-old to find the confidence required to do well on the World Cup circuit this season and the World Championships in Val d'Isere in February.
Since 2006 Chemmy has been working with a team of professionals to help her make the leap from great British skier to world class with her hopes firmly set on a podium place in Vancouver in 2010. With input also from Sir Clive Woodward, she now has a team of five coaches including a sensory motor skills coach and a sports psychologist.
Chemmy has been skiing since a toddler with her family on the slopes at Flaine and has been racing on the World Cup circuit since she was 17. She is currently the only female British skier at that level. She has already competed in two Olympics, Salt Lake City and Turin, where she finished 11th in the downhill. Her hard work and dedication got her so far and now she has been working hard to put into practice the recommendations of "Team Chemmy".
With yesterday's result it looks like the hard work may be paying off and we hope that it's just the start of great results for Chemmy. To find out more about the skiing blonde bombshell visit her website at www.chemmyalcott.com.
