Alpine Skiing World Cup preview with Chemmy Alcott: Who to watch out for; Which Brits could star?

Published 21/10/2016 at 17:09 GMT

The 2017 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup gets under way this weekend in Soelden, Austria, which will be broadcast exclusively live on Eurosport. Ahead of the race, we caught-up with former British number one alpine skier Chemmy Alcott to take a closer look at which Team GB stars to look out for in the season before the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Ted Ligety - Solden 2015

Image credit: AFP

Things are looking up from a British perspective with David Ryding, Charlie Raposo and Alex Tilley all entering the year with high expectations. Ryding, who became only the fourth British skier in history to reach the World Cup finals in the 2016 season, will be looking to build on an impressive 22nd place finish in the slalom last year.

“Last season Dave was amazing” said Alcott, “He only does slalom so he’s really focusing on marginal gains in that discipline. While a lot of other skiers have to think about different disciplines, he can focus at being one of the best in the world at slalom and last year showed how much he has improved.”

The 29-year-old has been gradually improving since his debut season back in 2013, which saw him finish in 51st position. This weekend's competition will mark Raposo's World Cup debut.

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Alex Tilley will fly the British flag in the women’s disciplines and Alcott believes her low-profile preparation may work in her favour.

Alex Tilley

Image credit: Eurosport

"This time last year Alex had worked incredibly hard over summer and made the top-30 cut in the first race of the season at Soelden," Alcott said. "The problem then was that she put a bit too much pressure on herself and her expectations went up. I saw her earlier this week and this year she’s not being as vocal about her aims – she needs a solid season and to focus on qualifying for the Olympics in Pyeongchang.

The British are one of the only teams not to go to the Southern Hemisphere over the summer. Alex Tilley and Dave Ryding trained together in Europe and because there’s been so much snow on the glaciers this summer I think that will work in their favour.

This year’s championship looks to be one of the most competitive in recent history with plenty of big names returning to the slopes after long periods out with injury. Alcott, who suffered badly with injuries throughout her career, believes this can only have a positive effect on the competition;

"There were a huge number of injuries at the top last year but all the big names are slowly returning in time for the new season” she says, “former champion Anna Fenninger – now Anna Veith – is due back soon and she’s one of my favourite female skiers to watch.

Then there’s five-time giant-slalom champion Ted Ligety and two-time overall champion Aksel Lund Svindal returning in the men’s, it’s going to be great to watch!

Veith, who missed the entirety of last season through injury, returned to the slopes back in June but will be absent in Soelden after declaring herself unfit for competition. Two-time Olympic champion Tina Maze will also be missing after announcing her retirement earlier this week but she will continue her work as part of the Eurosport team.