IT has been a case of double delight for Honor Clissold at the Delancey British National Alpine Ski Championships this week – but the Richmond teenager is hoping to leave the slopes with at least a hat-trick of medals to her name.

Having claimed a bronze medal in the senior super giant slalom event on Monday, Clissold won a silver in yesterday’s under-18 downhill.

The 17-year-old, who is part of British skiing’s elite alpine under-18 squad, competed in the World Junior Championships earlier this year, and her performances in the National Championships have cemented her status as one of the brightest young talents in British winter sport.

She is eligible to compete at both junior and senior level in the National Championships, which are being held in the French resort of Tignes, and has enjoyed success in both formats, with the slalom and giant slalom races still to come.

Her week started with Monday’s two super giant slalom events, and while she failed to finish the junior event as she crashed out halfway down the course, she recovered superbly to finish third in the senior competition.

The bronze medal was a repeat of the same result from 12 months ago, but having spent a large chunk of the winter in Austria training as part of the ‘Team Evolution’ squad, Clissold feels she has progressed markedly in the last year.

She helped Richmond School and Sixth Form College claim the team title at the British Schoolgirls’ Championships in January, and was delighted with her performance in the opening event of the National Championships, which are the flagship event in British skiing’s alpine calendar.

“It felt really good,” said Clissold, who is a former finalist at The Northern Echo’s Local Heroes Awards. “I love speed, but it was quite quick, quicker than expected.

“It did take me by surprise a little bit. It was really quick on the flat when you come down to the finish, and it was quite tiring as well.

“I think overall I had quite a good run. I got one of the lines a bit wrong heading into the gate. I came third overall in the Super-G last year as well, after Chemmy (Alcott) won and Cara (Brown) came second, but I think I’ve made progress from last year, definitely.

“I haven’t done many races here, but I’ve done more training and it’s good to get more experience under my belt. The top of the course was alright, it was just the bit at the end that was difficult – and after the men’s run, it does get quite bumpy.”

She returned to the slopes yesterday, but while her second-place finish in the junior downhill enabled her to add another medal to her burgeoning collection, she admits she had been targeting the gold.

“It’s definitely not the end of the world, and I’m happy with the second place,” she said. “But to be honest, I went into the event with my sights set solely on gold, so to just miss out is a little bit disappointing.

“It felt pretty sketchy out there actually. It was quite bumpy and very fast, but the snow was good and the course was nice.

“I wasn’t very happy with my first race run as my time was pretty slow and I think I lost a lot of speed, but the second one was a lot better. My training run was faster than both, but I was still happy overall.

“I’ve done quite a few downhill races this year because Darcie (Mead, who claimed gold in the super giant slalom) does a lot of them – I’ve gone to competitions with her this year.”

Clissold’s attention will now switch to the slalom and giant slalom which round off the week, with the more technically-demanding disciplines tending to play to her strengths.

“I’m pretty confident going into the technical events,” she said. “I’ve been skiing generally well recently, and I’m hopeful I can be better.

“I didn’t finish in both the slaloms last year, but I was third in the under-18s for giant slalom, so it would be great to improve on both.”

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