Battersea skier Cara Brown ended her Delancey British National Alpine Ski Championships in style on Friday and insists the double success she found exceeded all expectations.
A tough course and tricky conditions in Tignes, France meant that 23 of the 44 starters failed to complete the uvex Women’s National Championship Giant Slalom race, which took centre stage on Friday.
But Brown was not one of those as she laid down two majestic runs to take a well-deserved gold in a time of 2:28.21 minutes – a result that also guaranteed her the title of overall champion for the week, contested by both genders.
The 22-year-old had already picked up downhill and super-G silver in the French Alps behind good friend Alex Tilley but once Tilley crashed out during the second run on Friday, Brown’s success was assured.
There will be few more popular winners in Tignes this week than the London-born Scot and she admits the mix of emotions at the finish was overwhelming.
“It’s just a big relief because I thought with that second run, it was all gone. It was so bumpy and you couldn’t see anything and then I made a massive mistake up the top,” said Brown.
“But to hear that I was British and overall champion, it all sounded pretty ridiculous.
“I think there’s a lot of surprise for me at the win as well. Obviously it is exactly how I wanted it to go this week but it wasn’t how I expected it to go.
“It’s nice to get gold. I was kind of expecting a week of silvers, so this was above my expectations which means I’m really happy.
“It’s definitely one of the most pleasing results of my career. It’s a shame that Tilley DNFed because it would have been really cool to compare my time to her and then be up on the podium with her.
“It’s a shame she came out but I’ve never won this title before, so I’m happy with that.”
The Delancey British National Alpine Ski Championships run until April 1 and are the biggest event of the year for the British ski racing world – with Delancey as the principal sponsor for the sixth year running.
It has already been a busy week for Brown but her schedule is not about to ease up as she now heads to a slew of other events in the final weeks of the ski racing season.
“On Saturday I head to the French Champs, so I’m not staying here unfortunately,” added Brown. “I’ll be doing that if I have enough energy for it anyway!
“After that I’ve got the Belgian Champs, then some FIS races so I don’t actually finish my until April 10 but I’m looking forward to it.”
To follow the progress of the Delancey British Alpine Ski Team visit www.teambss.org.uk or follow @teambss on Twitter.
As Principal Sponsor of British Ski and Snowboard, Delancey is proud to be able to provide British athletes with the support they require to win World Cup and Winter Olympic medals. For more information visit www.delancey.com
