Whilst many eyes have been focused on PyeongChang this week, the next generation of British skiing stars have been taking part in the English Alpine Championships in Italy.

The 22nd edition of the annual competition kicked off in Bormio this weekend and having previously featured the likes of Olympian Dave ‘the rocket’ Ryding, the next generation of top class athletes have been on display on the slopes.

Sunday saw the first competitive action at the Championships, the 11th time they’ve been held in Bormio, with the Under-14 and Under-16s competing in the Super-G.

The boys event saw 15-year-old Lancashire skier Robert Holmes top the podium with a rapid finish time of 51.63 seconds, whilst Jack Cunningham, also of Team Evolution, finished in second.

Team BSA’s Louis De Pourtales finished in third, and was delighted with the result: “It feels great to make it onto the podium,” said the youngster. “It’s what I’ve been working for really.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever made it onto a podium so I’m pretty satisfied with my performance.

“It’s quite satisfying that I’ve put in all this work and I’ve got there, I can keep on going from this.

“I actually started the season with quite a lot of DNF’s which wasn’t ideal! But this race has been obviously great and it’ll only get better.

“The course suited my style because I’m not the biggest or the strongest, so a turning course suits me, I was quite aggressive and just went for it really!”

The Under-14s went in the same run as the Under-16s and impressively, despite being younger than many in the field, Max Laughland, Lucas Ellis and Luca Carrick-Smith all made it into the top 20 finishers.

Max was the highest of those finishers, coming in 13th, and is looking forward to the rest of the week.

“The course was really smooth,” said the 13-year-old. “It felt really good as I was coming down and I’m pretty happy with it all apart from one of the last gates.

“I’m doing all the events this week but to get on top of the podium on the first day is brilliant!”

Meanwhile, in the girls event, Under-14s sisters Isla and Erin Ward raced fantastically to finish third and fourth respectively, Team BSA’s Daisi Daniels topped the podium and Sophie Foster finished second.

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