Snowboard legend drops by

By Anna Thompson
Winter sports editor

Olympic medallist Daniel Franck will be appearing in Sheffield this weekend to give his support to Britain's freestyle snowboarders.

Franck in action at the Salt Lake City Olympics

Norwegian Franck, who won a silver in the half-pipe at the 1998 Winter Olympics, will attend the Orange AIM Series National Artificial Slopestyle Championships.

The former world champion will spend Saturday with snowboard competitors at Sheffield Ski Village and give details of his life, achievements and new training techniques.

Jenny Ahnell, of organisers Soul Sports, told BBC Sport: "We are very excited to have a snowboard legend like Daniel at one of our events.

"We hope he will inspire Britain's up and coming talent."

Slopestyle is the most technical of all the freestyle disciplines and skiers and boarders have to have good all-round skills to be able to compete successfully.

Competitors negotiate a course full of obstacles and perform tricks over jumps, rails and boxes.

The winners of Saturday's snowboard competition and Sunday's ski contest will qualify for the final of the AIM Series, the Orange Brits, which are taking place in Laax in Switzerland between 12-19 March 2005.