• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Alcott left frustrated by error in middle

Such is the standing now for Chemmy Alcott that every race is filled with hope and the expectation that she will make the thirty in the first instance and then crack on to the top fifteen and better.  This has been a fantastic season, she admits herself. Seven top thirty results including a top ten have led her to be a growing force. In the last two years, the strength and power have been harnessed along with the undoubted talent.  Now she admits that she has to “hit it on the limit as I want that really good result.” The technique has been there and along with the knowledge brought to the table by her coach Mark Tilston, Alcott is flying. It makes results like the Giant slalom in Lienz very frustrating.

The course has never been a particular favourite of Alcott; she has never finished a race here in seven attempts. This time a mistake in the flat middle section of the race cost her dear and she did could not recover the time to make the cut and the top 30.  After skiing a smooth and clean top section, it all looked good for another qualification. Ski racing is cruel and when she caught her hand in a gate and spun round, slipping onto her inside ski, vital time was lost. “Today I fell and was four and a half second off but there was still some decent skiing in there. It is frustrating but it is what I need to do and that is part of my development,” explained Alcott.

You could see the hurt as she watched other racers come down and give up. Alcott is a fighter and it hurt her to see other girls not fight as hard as they could to try and make the cut: “Some of these girls give up too easily,” she whispered. For Alcott every race is still a learning curve: “I could ski down nice and pretty and make the top thirty,” she admitted, “for me it is about learning where your limits are.” It is this attitude that makes her such a fearsome competitor and one that is bringing in the results.

With January being “a really heavy month for the girls that do Downhill and Super G,” explained Alcott, “I need to have a break now as this will be my last break before the Olympics.” The constant travelling takes its toll and living out of the bag means that the new Chemmy now takes every opportunity she can. Whether this opportunity is a break or more training is very planned and focused.  One of the things that she has taken on board this winter and is working hard with her coach is that of visualisation.  Chemmy will look down the course about five times in the first person and will then look at how she wants to ski the course in the third person. This is all new technique and the results are there for all to see. Sometimes it goes wrong and then you have to start again.

Standing at the finish after her run, you could see the pain of having not made the second run. Rather than being the “bull in the china shop”, Alcott admits to being much calmer now.  According to Tilston, Chemmy will focus on what went wrong and there will be a debrief in the evening along with video analysis, learning from the mistake and trying to make sure this does not happen again.

While the financial problems that have beset the British ski team are well documented, one of the costs that has had to be cut has been the amount of coaching support. Last year a physio and assistant coach were part of team Chemmy, this year Team Chemmy consists of Tilston and her serviceman along with Chemmy. When you consider a team like Norway has six spots in the car park against the one for Great Britain, this helps explain the difficulty that Alcott is up against.

It may be tough being a one girl team but she is “really enjoying every moment. I was saying to Mark as I was doing my physical training that all I wanted was to be in the start gate! I really look forward to the racing and it is something that I really want. Some girls race because they race where as I get in that start gate because I want to ski it. I love it, it is really good.”

And with that it was off to prepare for the slalom…