British skiers on cusp of glory

By Graham Bell Five-time Olympic skier and Ski Sunday commentator

Mickel dazzles in Bormio

Finlay Mickel's brilliant 11th place in the world championship downhill in Bormio sees British ski racing in pretty good health ahead of next year's Winter Olympics.

The Scot, along with Chemmy Alcott, Alain Baxter, and the snowboarders Lesley McKenna and Zoe Gillings, will go to Turin with the potential to finish inside the top 10.

And with the way winter sports work, that means they then have a very real chance of winning a medal.

With most athletes it is 80% mental - with Alain Baxter it seems to be 99% mental

Going into the Salt Lake City Games, Britain only really had Alain Baxter in that position and he deserved his medal. Now there are more eggs in the basket.

But in the end it is a pure numbers game.

We are smaller than a very small region in Austria when it comes down to the number of good kids who take up the sport, so we are never going to constantly produce top skiers.

The Austrians have talent to burn. They even cut Hermann Maier off their programme when he was a junior.

Mickel's run was a fantastic achievement on a difficult and demanding course

Once we get the kids into the British team set-up and get them skiing full time we don't do too badly. Where we struggle a bit is getting them the number of days they need on snow while they are still at school.

So in that context, Mickel's run in the world championships which finished on Sunday was a fantastic achievement on a difficult and demanding course.

Time wise, he was quite unlucky. He was only one hundredth of a second behind the two racers in front who were tied, and only a few 10ths out of being in the top five.

He is due a really good result and is very capable of it. He just needs to find that last little bit extra and make the mental jump that the top guys are able to do.

They push themselves that bit further and are able to take it closer to the edge than anyone else - that extra risk and attack.

Alcott faces a foot operation at the end of the season

Itis not a physical thing - Finlay's bigger and stronger than he has ever been, and he has made big improvements technically. It is about confidence and once he gets that he could well get on the podium.

As for Chemmy, she came 19th in Italy in her best discipline of downhill and could have skied better, but she has been hampered by a foot injury all season, which will have to be operated on in the summer.

It is a shame because last season she made big strides and could have done something really special in these championships. She is definitely good enough.

Alain Baxter's 16th place on Saturday could also have been much better. He is capable of more than that.

He was 30th after a disappointing first run but went out first on the second run and proved what he can do - the sixth fastest time, equal to the eventual winner Benjamin Raich.

He seems to have been skiing really fast in training but it has not clicked for him at all in any races this year.

With most athletes it is 80% mental. With Alain it seems to be 99% mental.

Salt Lake City is well out of his mind now. It just seems that when he gets into the start gate he doesn't take enough risks. If you just ski to finish you're going to be slow. But he can bounce back.