Chemmy Clows Away Cobwebs to Finish 13th in Downhill
Chemmy Alcott got her Vancouver 2010 Olympic campaign off to an encouraging start as she “blew off the cobwebs” during the women’s downhill.
The Team GB alpine star finished 13th overall, just a third of a second off a place in the top ten. But she said the race had been “an amazing experience”.
“This is an absolutely awesome downhill,” she said afterwards. “It’s the perfect women’s downhill, the best I’ve ever skied. And today Mother Nature did us a favour as well with the conditions.
“It’s bumpy, it’s icy and it’s great fun. You look at this and you think to yourself ‘this is what we do this sport for’.
“I lost a bit of time at the top in the soft stuff, and that affected my run. I think I could have gone quicker but I made a few silly mistakes. But it’s the Chemmy way - I went for it totally and when you ski like that, it’s hard to avoid a couple of tiny slips. It’s always like that with me.”
As if to prove the point, Chemmy’s run ended in spectacular style as she became so absorbed in waving to the crowd that she crashed into the barriers in the finishing area. After a brief pause she bobbed back up again, smile wider than ever.
“I just did that to give everyone a close-up look of a proper alpine crash,” she laughed. “I just forgot to slow down at the finish. It’s just to inspiring to be here at an Olympic Winter Games.
“The race was an awesome experience. I’m doing a few events here, so that was an amazing way of getting rid of some cobwebs.”
On a day peppered with spectacular crashes, Lindsey Vonn of the United States won the race with compatriot Julia Mancuso coming second.
Alcott will now turn her focus to her other alpine competitions. She is due to take part in the slalom, giant slalom, super-G as well as the super combined, which is scheduled to be held tomorrow (Thursday).
The cobwebs are well and truly off.
Notes to editors:
Team GB consists of 52 athletes from 6 sports and 11 disciplines at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Visit www.teamgb.com for further information.
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