L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Heel wins Super G in Val Gardena with Defago and Jaerbyn on the podium ... Paerson wins Super combined from Hosp and Suter ... Walchhofer retains King of the Hill in Downhill, Miller 2 and Osborne Paradis 3 ... Gut wins Super G in St Moritz from Suter and Fanchini

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

James Leuzinger captured his first British Senior Slalom Title in the sun on the Meribel slopes.  With Sebastien Amiez and Sebastien Auer providing strong local opposition yet neither were able to match the combined time posted by Leuzinger.  Auer had lead after the first run as the first three were separated by a mere tenth of a second.  The Women's race was won by Chemmy Alcott, completing a clean sweep of the three races that took place this week.  Alcott won the women's race convincingly from Ingrid Bott (France) who was just ahead of Lynn Sharp.

With all three of the leading male racers having had quiet seasons on the World Cup, it was a chance to try and lower the ever important FIS points.  Leuzinger had been hoping that the competition from Noel Baxter would have been stronger but the younger Baxter pushed hard on the first run and caught his boot in the snow that pushed him onto his inside ski and out of the race.  Baxter went out along with a large list of racers including British Team member Andrew Noble.  The race for next best British racer was a close fought contest between a number of the younger racers.  With Alain Baxter not racing due to an injured back this was a chance for the younger racers to stake their claims for the future.  Scott Bryson lead the race for runners up spot amongst the British after the first run by just over six tenths from Ed Drake.  Drake was not pleased with his first run and hoped that it would see a repeat of last year where he finished third behind the Baxter brothers.  History looked to repeat itself as he felt he had put down a bad first run and when he came down the second it looked like he might have done enough to rescue the situation.  Bryson took the fight to Drake and skied a tremendous top section on the second run only to lose his way and come to a halt sideways midway down the steep.  Whilst he lost most of his speed, Bryson managed to stay on course and made it to the finish ahead of Drake by a mere three hundredths of a second.  Bryson eventually ended up in ninth overall and Drake tenth.

Head coach of the British Team, Christian Schwaiger was delighted for Bryson who he felt "it was the best he has skied in a long time."  For Drake he was happy with the third place but felt he had not done as well as he could have.  Bryson also took the prize for the best non British Team race and Junior.

In the Women's race the demise of Jo Greig near the end of the first run, meant that the only real opposition to Chemmy Alcott had gone.  It was a great shame for Greig who has for so long played the role of understudy to Alcott and she had a great chance to defend her Slalom title that she had won on the same slope last year.  Straddling a gate as she came into the final pitch meant that Alcott was ahead of the next best racer by a comfortable margin.  Lynn Sharp and Pamela Thorburn upheld the honour for the British team in taking third and fifth place overall, second and third amongst the British racers.  Kirsten McGarry took sixth overall for Ireland while Dani Bryson, younger sister of Scott, took best non team and junior prizes.

With the Slalom concluding the Championships, the non finish of Noel Baxter in the slalom handed the Overall Title to Finlay Mickel in the Men's race while having won all three races, Chemmy Alcott won the women's title and with it the Victrix Ludorum.