Alcott hopeful for World downhill

SKI SUNDAY (ALL TIMES GMT) Fri 4 Feb 1420-1500 Sun 6 Feb 1615-1700 Fri 11 Feb 1420-1500 Sun 13 Feb 1300-1345

British skier Chemmy Alcott received a boost for her world championship downhill campaign when she finished a creditable 22nd in Sunday's super-G.

The 22-year-old beat some of skiing's biggest names in Santa Caterina despite a season plagued by foot problems.

"I got quite jammy," she told Ski Sunday. "Quite a lot of the good girls crashed out with stupid mistakes.

"I skied a fairly average run but got to the bottom so that's quite promising for the rest of the week."

Alcott's best event is the downhill, which takes place on 6 February.

But this season she has struggled with a bunion - a calcium deposit - on her left foot caused by rubbing in her ski boot.

ALCOTT'S 2004/5 RESULTS Downhill: Lake Louise (Can): 31st, 29th S Caterina (Ita): 41st, 19th C d'Ampezzo (Ita): 40th Super-G: Lake Louise (Can): 53rd Altenmarkt (Aut): 24th St Moritz (Swi): 37th C d'Ampezzo (Ita): 22nd, 38th

Her best result was 19th on the same Deborah Compagnoni course in Santa Caterina in early January.

"I haven't done much skiing this season. I've done some racing but no training," said Alcott.

"I've been quite injury-prone and just trying to survive it. I'm just trying to get through until the end of the season."

But Alcott said that the British team had been buoyed by the results of men's downhiller Finlay Mickel, who has had four top-20 finishes in downhill including a career-best 13th in Bormio.

The Scot was 23rd in the world championship super-G in Bormio on Saturday.

"It really rubs off. We've had Alain [Baxter] in the past and you need someone to do it," said Alcott.

"You need to know you can do it because we're a small team. If everyone 's depressed Chinese whispers goes around really fast so you need someone performing so you can say, 'right, he's doing it, we can do it'.

"I just need to switch on to fast Chemmy mode."