Chloe Chapman recently caught up with Amy Stokoe following her success in the overall eola Indoor GBR Series. The first two races were held in Manchester, followed by two races in Braehead, and then a return to Manchester for the fifth and final race. This series saw three different ladies take the top step; Stokoe winning races one and two, Holly McKey dominating in Glasgow, and Nicole Ritchie taking top spot in the final race of the season, but it was Stokoe who consistently placed high to take the overall win.
This is Stokoe’s first time winning both her category and overall, having placed 2nd U16 in the series a few years ago. Winning something with this prestige feels really rewarding for Stokoe, who says she has worked hard over the past few years so coming away with the win makes it seem like her hard work and dedication to the sport is paying off.
Stokoe says that winning was never more than a vague goal for her and that her main goals for the season were to have fun, spend time with friends and enjoy the skiing. Winning the first round came as a pleasant surprise to her as she didn’t put any pressure on herself to win, but this debut victory made it seem like winning the overall series was a real possibility rather than a distant goal. As the series progressed the win became more tangible and going into the final race, she felt comfortable knowing that it wasn’t necessary to win this race to win the series.
She feels like she skied well across all rounds and is pleased with her performance but knew that there were elements of her skiing that could be improved. Races three and four proved particularly challenging for her, as the snow is softer and season rival Holly McKey knew how to deal with these conditions better. BSA teammate McKey was Stokoe’s biggest competition at all the races this summer, but they don’t let the competition come between them and Stokoe is pleased to have someone to push her both in training and races.
Stokoe has recently been reselected for the England Alpine Squad and is hoping to carry her success on the artificial slopes into the Alpine season yet recognises the difficulty of balancing ski racing with full time education and her A-Level exams which coincide with the end of the season. Despite this challenge, she is still excited to continue training with BSA and has set herself a goal of achieving under 100 FIS points in GS – currently sitting at 108 so is confident that she can achieve this.
Eager to continue her success, Stokoe has been in Saas-Fee with the British Ski Academy for pre-season training, taking on board the positives and improvements required from the summer season in preparation for the upcoming winter.
Series results