Defending overall British ladies’ champion Cara Brown was left devastated after a fall in the Delancey British Alpine Skiing Championships cut short the end of her season on Monday.
The 24-year-old from Battersea fell in the Downhill training run and medical staff gave her a healing period of three to four weeks to repair her injured meniscus ligament, ending her season and her hopes of retaining the national crown.
Brown was aiming for a fifth overall title at the British Championships, which run from March 25 to April 6, to move closer to the great Chemmy Alcott’s record of seven national titles.
The Championships are the biggest event in the British skiing calendar and will include Olympians Dave Ryding, Laurie Taylor, Alex Tilley and Charlie Guest later in the week, whilst also showcasing the best of the Delancey U21 and U18 squad.
“It’s a shame to finish on a low since yesterday was a high,” said Brown, who started off her week in excellent form by winning gold in the Super G.
“But that’s the way ski racing works. It’s my own fault, you’re meant to move forward over jumps and I went backwards, so lesson learnt!
“I chucked my skis sideways to avoid the gate, but then in the process of doing that I didn’t move forward over the roll so I just got kicked way backwards and just exploded.
“I think I snapped my ski on the back, which is a bit of a pain, but better the ski than my leg!
“But it’s not a happy knee at the moment, it’s getting very swollen in size.”
Despite the injury, Brown believes it will not affect her preparations or overall goals for next season.
“I’ll have the same plan for next season because this last month of the season it’s not like I was preparing for a big event or anything,” she said.
“It was just racing this month, so when I come back in June it’ll be as it would be if I’d skied these weeks, but I just won’t have skied them. It’ll be the same hopefully!
“I’ve got a physio back home in Italy, the good thing is that it’s a month to the end of the season then it’s a whole month where we don’t ski anyway, so I’ve got two months to get back fit for summer.”
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, specialist real estate investment and advisory company 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
