Fledgling Worsley ski racer Anna Kamaly-Asl is heading to the English Alpine Championships in Bormio, Italy, with the top step of the podium in her sights.
Twelve-year-old Kamaly-Asl, who races for Manchester Ski Racing at Chill Factore and JR Ski Racing has enjoyed fantastic success this season, winning the GBR indoor series for the third year and the Ambition Championships U14 girls title in January.
She took up skiing when she was just one-and-a-half years old, then was inspired by events she watched in the USA and has been keen to race ever since.
“I did always want to push the limit because I am a bit of a daredevil,” said Anna.
The Manchester High School for Girls student will be competing in the slalom, giant slalom and super G in Italy.
The English Alpine Championships run from February 11-16 and are organised by Snowsport England, the national governing body for snow sport in England that is responsible for growing participation in snow sports through direct funding from Sport England.
They work closely with snow centres, artificial slopes and clubs around the country, as well as managing English squads and athletes across all snow sport disciplines.
Kamaly-Asl is hoping to win in Bormio, but there is one goal that she holds above all others.
“I would love to be at the Olympics representing my country,” she said. “I’ve dreamed of it since I was a little girl.
“I would always try and find sports that I could maybe get into. When I found ski racing it just became a massive goal to go to the Olympics.”
Team GB is sending four Alpine skiers to Pyeongchang 2018, but one person stands out for Kamaly-Asl.
“In ski racing it has become such a more realistic goal thanks to Dave Ryding,” she said.
“He is performing so fantastically and we are cheering him on every step of the way.”
Aside from the buzz of racing, what Kamaly-Asl enjoys about these competitions is the friends she has made.
“We go to Landgraaf in Austria in the summer and there are lots of people from different countries there,” she said.
“There’s a little bit of a language barrier, but I have made some good friends.”
For the championships in Bormio, she is excited for the step up to a new age group and wary of the standard of some of her fellow racers.
She said: “My season is going well, but in Leogang in Austria, there were such good girls there and some of the competition completely blew my mind away.
“I hope that I can do as well as I can, but like I said, all the girls are just so fantastic.”
For this winter Olympics season Snowsport England has launched ‘PyeongChang to Piste’ (www.pyeongchangtopiste.org.uk), featuring events and taster sessions run by various clubs and slopes throughout the country along with tailored downloadable resources for schools.
Image courtesy of Racer Ready, with thanks.
