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 Girls
on top
Chemmy Alcott, 21, was not born when a British female last scored
World Cup points for finishing in the Top 30 of a World Cup downhill,
and Super G was not invented, but Alcott opened another chapter
of British ski racing history in Lake Louise with a remarkable 11th
place in Super G, topping off her two 22nd places in Friday and
Saturday's World Cup downhills.
Alcott showed great composure and was in touch all the way down
the former Men's Olympic Downhill course, finishing just 1.37 seconds
behind France's Carole Montillet, the reigning Olympic downhill
gold medallist. Having started 50th down the course Alcott was the
only one of the higher ranking starters to break the top 30.
Perfect conditions
After also making points in giant slalom on her first World Cup
outing in Sölden last month, when she finished 25th, Alcott, who
is still just 21 years of age, now lies 50th on the overall World
Cup standings.
'Chemmy skied really
well. The conditions are perfect, although it is getting a little
warmer now, but the course is a really good test with difficult
technical turns, jumps and plenty of gliding and Chemmy went well
all the way. She can go faster on this course so we will see what
tomorrow brings.' commented her coach Geri Greber of The British
Land Alpine Ski Team.
 Results
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Womens Downhill
1 C Montillet (Fra) 1:34.03
2 H Gerg (Ger) 1:34 .19
3 K Clark (USA) 1:34.36
4 S Berthod (Sui) 1:34.36
5 D Ceccarelli (Ita) 1:34.37
22 C Alcott (GBR) 1:35.40
While Alcott's donwhill
finishes were good enough in themselves they were scored in flat
light and poor visibility over lake Louise's Men's Olympic Downhill
course.
Sunday even better
On Sunday the visibility cleared and Alcott skied an attacking run
which saw her earn the 'Win for All' prize as the best finisher
with a low start number. Racing with start bib 38 Alcott skied the
top sections well but excelled on the lower half of the course where
she skied a different, straighter line to record the fastest split
time, and finish 1.49 seconds behind Austria's winner Renate Goetschl.
" I am so pleased. It has been a great weekend. It's a shame that
it looks like that will be the last downhill for a while because
I am really up for it. I have so much more confidence in my skiing
now and it really showed here I think." Alcott explained, " I think
I was pretty unlucky with the light in the downhills but I ski flat
light well, so I was not too bothered, but today it was clear and
fast. I was a little bit tentative on the top but on the bottom
we had a different line, which Christian (Schwaiger, head coach
of The British Land Alpine Ski Team) had told me and it worked.
It was a pretty tough course and some of the girls were making a
bit of a big deal about it, but I felt I skied it well."
 Training
with the boys
Alcott has always measured herself against the best of the British
men's skiers through her career, but she attributes the confidence
which has underpinned her promising start to this season to training
with the men of the British Land Alpine Ski Team this summer on
the glaciers and also nine long weeks of intensive fitness training
alongside some of Austria's best racers in Salzburg.
'I have always been competitive with the boys but this summer it
was all I could match up to and I knew I was skiing well against
them. Mentally I feel so much more up for it. Even though my coach
probably tells me ten times a day that I can do it, I have never
really felt totally confident. Now I fell like I can and today really
proves it to me.'
'These are great results for Chemmy and prove that she has really
now laid down the technical foundations for her world cup skiing
but it is just a case of taking it one step at a time. This is pretty
much like it was for Alain Baxter three years ago, so she has great
potential.' confirmed coach Christian Schwaiger. Alcott returns
to Europe this week.
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup, Women's Super G, Lake Louise,
Canada, Sunday:
1 R Goetschl (Aut) 1:14.98,
2 M Dorfmeister (Aut) 1:15:49,
3 H Gerg (Ger) 1:15.66,
4 K Clark (USA) 1:15.85,
5 N Styger (Sui) 1:15.86,
11 C Alcott (Hove/The British Land Alpine Ski Team) 1:16.47.
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