DORRIDGE skiing sensation Scott Johns is leaving no stone unturned in his bid to enjoy a successful outing at this month’s English Alpine Championships.
Johns will be one of 350 of the country’s best alpine skiers to descend upon the Italian resort of Bormio from February 13-19 for the 20th English Alpine Championships, organised by national governing body Snowsport England.
However, the Arden Academy pupil will not be going into the competition cold having made the journey to Austria to train with the Austrian Racing Council over the winter, as well as competing at the Anglo-Scottish Championships last month.
And despite racing well at under-12 level last year, having moved up an age group, Johns is keeping his expectations in check this time around.
“I was skiing fine at the Anglo-Scottish Champs, but I’m in the older under-14 age group now so it’s a bit harder against guys that are a bit bigger than me,” said the 12-year-old.
“It’s a challenge of course but I’d love to get in the top ten in every run at the English Alpine Championships.
“That would be good in terms of my progress and then hopefully I could challenge right at the top next season.
“I want to get into the British team; that’s the ultimate aim for me and events like this one are really important in terms of that.
“The giant slalom is usually my favourite event but I’m really excited to race in the Super-G for the first time as well, as I’ve never done that before in the younger age groups.”
The English Alpine Championships help provide an early glimpse of the stars of tomorrow with British Olympians Chemmy Alcott and Dave Ryding both having competed at the competition.
And with happy memories of the event, claiming a gold medal three years ago in the giant slalom, Johns is relishing the thought of strutting his stuff once again in Italy.
He added: “The English Alpine Championships are probably the most important race of the season.
“Early on in the winter you are warming up and seeing where you are, and then later on you are seeing how much you’ve improved.
“But for Bormio, you can see where you are in the middle of the season so it’s really useful.
“I’ve been going since 2010 and won in 2013 in the under-10’s category.
“But I’ve come top-five in at least one event pretty much every other time I’ve been as well so hopefully the results will be good again.
“I think the racing there suits me to some extent because there are no really long flat sections, so it means it doesn’t help out the heavier people as much.”
* Follow the English Alpine Championships, organised by Snowsport England, via www.englishalpinechamps.org.uk or @SnowsportEng on Twitter.
If you want to get into skiing or snowboarding you can find your nearest slope offering value-for-money GO SKI GO BOARD sessions at www.goskigoboard.org.uk
