Hampshire skier Sarah Woodward has set her sights on becoming English champion at the forthcoming English Alpine Skiing Championships in Italy.

The 17-year-old from North Warnborough narrowly missed out on the accolade a year ago and is hopeful the experience will stand her in good stead in Bormio later this month. 

Competing for Ambition Racing, Woodward will race in the slalom, giant slalom and Super-G disciplines and is confident her rigorous pre-season training programme will translate into further success on the slopes.

She said: “I missed out last year on the overall English champion, so this year that’s definitely going to be an aim of mine. 

“We’ve been really lucky with the facilities we’ve had to train in the snowy conditions. A lot of the pre-season work and pre-Christmas training has paid off into some really good races and I’m really happy to have obtained some podiums already this season.

“One of my favourite things about Bormio is the ski event, the Super G. The piste they have there is so much fun and last year I was too nervous to actually enjoy it that much. 

“So with more experience this year, it’s what I’m looking forward to most.”

The Alton College student is no stranger to the Championships with this being her seventh year of attendance, crediting the strong British presence as adding to the spectacle – and the nerves.

The English Alpine Skiing Championship, where Olympian Dave Ryding started his career before competing in the World Cup, is one of the biggest annual competitions in the skiing calendar.

But since taking up the sport as a four-year-old on family holidays, via the dry slopes of Aldershot and Ambition Racing where she honed her craft, you get a sense that Woodward’s best might be yet to come. 

With the growing profile of winter and snow sports thanks to the success of the likes of skeleton racer Lizzy Yarnold and skier Ryding, it seems an opportune time for Woodward to take centre stage and she revealed the Olympics remains her passionate dream.

“The Olympics is definitely a long-term aim of mine. It never really was as such but last year was really inspiring to see, watching the other British girls there, and it makes you want to push yourself even harder,” she added.

“Other than that, I’d like to get on the Europa Cup circuit in the next couple of years and see where that takes me.

“It’s really nice to see people from outside the sport actually get involved and it’s nice as people who don’t really have any links to ski racing say, ‘oh that guy Dave is doing really well this year.’”

Her immediate focus, however, remains on the current campaign and her trip to ‘sociable Bormio’ where she is targeting further podiums and continuing her progress in an event that is even surprising the teenager herself.

She added: “In terms of aims, there is the English overall and the British champion overall as well, and my giant slalom points are, at the moment, better than I thought they would be. 

“I just want to keep dropping them until the end of the season.”

Snowsport England is the national governing body for skiing and snowboarding in England, aiming to inspire as many people as possible to try snow sports. Find out more about Snowsport England’s affiliated clubs, athletes, competitions, coaching and campaigns here: www.snowsportengland.org.uk