Manchester enjoyed an excellent day on the ski slopes of Italy on Wednesday with teenage prodigies Daisi Daniels and Anna Kamaly-Asl both impressing in the English Alpine Championships slalom.
Both girls are amongst the most talented junior racers in the country and proved it once again at the Championships, being held in Bormio, with Daniels taking gold in the Under-16s slalom and Kamaly-Asl claiming fourth in the Under-14s.
Daniels, 15, has already tasted success this week with another gold in Sunday’s Super G and a silver in the same event, sponsored by Rossignol, on Monday.
And remarkably she topped the podium again in the slalom despite two shaky runs, with the on-looking crowd exhaling with surprise as she faltered at the start of her second run before making up for lost time.
“I love slalom! It was good, the first course I wasn’t too keen on,” said Daniels. “It was quite offset which is not my specialty but I spoke to a few of my coaches who were like ‘you can do this’ and that really motivated me!
“I was happy with my run, a few mistakes but it was alright, whenever you make a mistake you’ve just got to carry on and rebuild it.
“So that’s what I did, kept skiing in the first and I was happy with my time on that one, second run I made even more mistakes, quite a lot of close calls.
“I nearly crashed a few times which is good, I’m happy with the recoveries and I’m learning more so I’m happy with it.”
Meanwhile, 13-year-old Kamaly-Asl, who hails from Worsley, celebrated her birthday with her best result of the week, coming after ninth and seventh-place finishes in the Super G.
Again, the Manchester alpine star faltered in her first run, after which she was ranked seventh, before racing aggressively in the second to improve her ranking.
“It’s my birthday today and it’s been a good one, fourth place is good!” said Kamaly-Asl.
“Both courses were nice, quiet straight, I wasn’t pleased with my first run but then I smashed my second so I can’t complain!
“If I ever do badly on my first run I try and regroup, get angry and attack the second run, a bit of an all or nothing approach.
“I have had some good results this season but all of the girls in the Under-14s are really good, they’re all incredible so I didn’t necessarily expect to do this well.”
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