DORSET skiing prodigy Bonnie Davenport missed out on the podium by just a second in Wednesday’s slalom at the English Alpine Championships.

Weymouth-based Davenport, 14, has been getting better all week at the Championships, being held in Bormio, Italy, with a fourth-place finish in the slalom confirming her progression.

On Sunday the British Ski Academy racer finished eighth in the Super G, sponsored by Rossignol, and went one better on Monday with a ranking of seventh in the same event.

But on Wednesday came her best result of the week so far, as the young skier completed a good first run in the slalom to stand eighth in the rankings, before delivering a lightning-fast second run to move up to fourth.

“It’s my best ever result at Bormio so I am pretty happy,” said Davenport. “I feel quite surprised though so I think it will just take a bit of time to sink in, it definitely will later though!

“The first run today I came eighth and it actually felt much better than the second run because this one felt a little bit later, it felt good though.

“It’s been a really good week so far, we had a tough training day yesterday and then Monday’s Super G was good too.

“I did the night parallel on Monday and sadly a lost to our C-team, but it was a great event with a good crowd.

“I’ve just got the one event on Thursday now, the giant slalom, I hope I finish! I’m not sure when we travel back after that but I’ll enjoy Bormio until then!”

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