Skier Cooper celebrates English Alpine title

Cooper was in scintillating form at the Italian resort of Bormio, claiming victories in the Slalom and Alpine Combined disciplines and third-place finishes in the Super-G and Giant Slalom.

There was still time for a second and final Giant Slalom race on the Stella Alpina piste on Friday although a fall on one of her runs left her off the pace.

She still finished as the eighth-best Brit and fifth-best in the under-21 category – with that result, combined with her others, handing her not only the English under-21 title but the overall English title.

“I definitely would call this a successful week,” said the Chichester High School for Girls student.

“I’m really happy with how I skied in most of the races; I could have skied better in some of the others, but it’s all a learning curve and I want to come back next year and be even better.

“I’ve been overall junior British champion before, but this is a really exciting achievement as I wasn’t here last year and I used to look up to the people that won the overall English title.

“I wanted to be there on that podium when I was younger, and it’s great to finally do it.

“I’m heading home now for a week to catch up on some schoolwork, and then I’m back out for a couple of weeks either training for the world champs or just racing and getting ready for the British championships.”

The English Alpine Championships celebrated their tenth year in Bormio, with more than 400 of the country’s most talented skiers – ranging from under-tens to senior racers – flocking to the Italian resort to battle it out for the coveted English titles.

For British Ski Academy ace Cooper it is certainly not the last outing for her this season with the 18-year-old revealing her hope that last week’s performances have increased her chances of making the team for the World Junior Championships next month.

“Hopefully I’ll be going to the World Junior Championships in Sweden, I’ll find out whether I’ve been selected in the next couple of weeks but I want to be competing in the Slalom, GS, and Super-G there,” she added.

“I’ll stay positive and hopefully that selection will come. I’ve never been to the World Championship before, but it’s good to go in there with experience of big competitions like the Winter Youth Olympics.

“I’ll know some of the people that I’d be racing against; I’m friends with some of those racers now after last year. And it would be good to go with some teammates too.”

* Follow the English Alpine Championships on the Snowsport England Facebook page and get live updates on Twitter @SnowsportEng. Full results will be available at www.snowsportengland.org.uk – while you can find your nearest slope offering value-for-money GO SKI GO BOARD sessions at www.goskigoboard.org.uk

JACK MILLER

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