Kingston’s Darcie Mead believes her rivalry with fellow starlet Cara Brown is spurring her on to greater heights after reigning supreme on day one at the Delancey British National Alpine Ski Championships.
More than 100 skiers took to the sun-kissed slopes of Tignes on Monday for the Super-G event, which had been postponed over the weekend due to poor weather conditions.
At just 18, Mead was eligible for both the National Championships and National Junior Championships – promptly becoming British Super-G champion in both.
And it was her first run in which she particularly impressed, posting a scintillating time of 1:14.98minutes to not only top the Brits but come second overall in the international field.
A delighted Mead said: “It feels good, I didn’t expect it in the first place and it was quite a nice surprise – I’m pleased with how I skied.
“At the British Championships last year Cara was always just ahead of me and we were at the World Juniors together a couple of weeks ago, so to see come here now as well and have that friendly competition between us.
“Though this is her last year at Junior she’ll still be in the National Championships next year – so it’s not over between me and her yet!
“Especially in the overall competition, to come second in the whole race when I was ninth-seeded, I didn’t even expect to be in the top five let alone the top two.
“Last year I crashed out in the first run so I’m happy to have not done that this year and actually be able to put a good time down.”
Following the success of the Great Britain team at Sochi 2014 and with the support of Snowsport England’s national participation campaign GO SKI GO BOARD, it has been a tremendous year for British winter sports.
GO SKI GO BOARD started in September 2013 and more than 40,000 new people had taken at least one taster or coaching session through the campaign by the end of last year.
Mead’s been on skis for as long as she can remember and the former Surbiton High pupil is now preparing for more gruelling races for the week ahead, starting with the Downhill race.
“I’ve only done one Downhill race this season and that was at the World Juniors, so I’m a bit sketchy on it at the moment,” added Mead.
“I just need to stay confident as I had quite a few crashes in the speed events last year. I want to get a good time down and also be safe, just not have any more stupid crashes.”
As Principal Sponsor of British Ski and Snowboard, Delancey is proud to be able to provide British Athletes with the support and training they require to continue to be a real force in winter sports on a world stage. Follow @teambss or visit www.teambss.org.uk and www.delancey.com
