Harry on top form at Topolino!
In Val Rendena, Italy last week, only 150km from the Winter
Olympic Games, and at the same time, the world’s élite
young alpine athletes from 44 nations were battling for honours
in the 45th Trofeo Topolino.
14 year-old Harry Brown once again led the way for Great
Britain, taking an outstanding 13th place in the Giant Slalom.
This was a brave and remarkable performance from Harry, a
member of the British Children’s Ski Team for the last
three years.
The ‘Topolino’ competition is widely held to
be the unofficial world championships for athletes in this
age range – this ‘front page’ (i.e. top
15) result has given a real indication of Harry’s ability
and potential for the future. With so many nations competing,
and up to four athletes from each in the group, it was no
mean feat!
His achievement was all the more remarkable given the extreme
wintry conditions – the race took place amidst heavy
snowfall, with difficult visibility and uncertain snow conditions
underfoot. He showed a quite remarkable degree of skill, maturity
and courage in this performance.
Earlier in the season, Harry, who is a pupil at the Mougins
International School in southern France, had taken two podium
places in the alpine racing competition in the Czech Republic.
In taking third place in the CZE national Championships at
the start of the series of competitions, Harry showed a hint
of what was to follow later in the week.
He sparkled as he put in two stunning runs on the icy and
challenging Zaklety Hill in Ricky to take the silver medal
position in the international ‘Ski-Interkriterium’
slalom, only beaten by Lukas Aicher from Germany, with Kristian
Woldseth (Norway) taking the bronze.
Harry’s technical skills (described as ‘awesome’
by BCST coach Tom Hutchison) made up for a relative lack of
stature compared to these two competitors! Former German World
Cup winner Armin Bittner (working with the German team) was
heard to say that he was impressed!
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