West London skiing prodigy Aidan Urquhart says he had to take an all or nothing approach to get on to the podium on Wednesday at the English Alpine Championships.
Urquhart, 13, is one of the country’s best junior skiers and lived up that billing at the championships in Bormio, Italy, with a silver medal in the boys Under-14 slalom, sponsored by Rossignol.
Four competitors finished ahead of the London teenager in the first run on Wednesday, but Urquhart regrouped and came back stronger to deliver the fastest second run in the field, almost half a second quicker than eventual winner Oscar Morgan.
“The first run I was a bit annoyed because I made a couple of mistakes, but I’m very happy with second place,” said Urquhart, from Shepherd’s Bush.
“As I say the first run I made mistakes and I could have done a bit better, but the second run I just charged it and it could have gone either way from that point.
“It could have gone really wrong and I could have come out but it kind of all came together.
“I don’t know how, I just had it in my head to go all or nothing and it worked for me!”
The young alpine star, who skis for Kandahar Racing, finished sixth in both Super G events earlier in the week and is now looking forward to his last event – Thursday’s giant slalom.
“I’m up for the giant slalom on Thursday and I’ve had a great week so far, very good weather and it’s just a great resort here.
“I’m happy with the sixth I got in the Super G and overall I’ve skied pretty well this week.
“My team, Kandahar, have done really well in the slalom too and that helps me do better.”
Inspired by the performances at the 2018 English Alpine Championships and PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games? Find out more on how to get involved in skiing and snowboarding through Snowsport England’s national grassroots participation campaign at www.goskigoboard.org.uk
