Chemmy Alcott

Chimene Mary "Chemmy" Crawford-Alcott (née Alcott; born 10 July 1982)[1] is an English former World Cup alpine ski racer. She competed in all five disciplines: downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom and combined.[2]

Chemmy Alcott

Alcott at London Youth Games in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Chimene Mary Alcott
Nickname(s)	Chemmy
Born	10 July 1982 Hove, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, U.K.[1]
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Website	ChemmyAlcott.com
Sport
Sport	Alpine skiing
Club	CDC Performance
Retired	March 2014
Medal record Women's Alpine skiing Representing United Kingdom Senior British National Alpine Ski Championship Titles 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2003, 2002, 1999 Overall 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2003, 2002 Downhill 2009, 2008, 2007, 2003, 2002, 2001 Super G 2009, 2007, 2005, 2003, 2002 Combined/S. Combined 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2003, 2002 Giant Slalom 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2003 Slalom Junior British National Alpine Ski Championship Titles 2002 Downhill 2002 Super G 2002, 2001 Giant Slalom 2002, 2001 Slalom European Youth Winter Olympic Festival 1999 Super G 1999 Giant Slalom

Alcott competed in four Winter Olympic Games and seven FIS World Championships and has been overall Senior British National Champion 7 times (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009) and Overall British Ladies Champion 8 times. She retired from international competition following the 2014 season.[3]

Early life

Born in Hove, England,[1] Alcott was named after Sophia Loren's character in the 1961 film El Cid. She started skiing at 18 months old on a family holiday in Flaine, France, and first raced at the age of three.[4][5]

In 1993, Alcott won the Etoile D'Or French Village Ski Championship, became a member of the British Junior Alpine team in 1994 and won the 1995 Sunday Times Junior Sportswoman of the Year award.[6] Every British summer from the age of 11 to 19 Alcott travelled to New Zealand to train in the winter.[5]

She was a talented athlete, representing Richmond in dry slope skiing, and in tennis at the London Youth Games. She was inducted into the London Youth Games Hall of Fame in 2011.[7]

Aged 11, Alcott broke her neck in a skiing accident, recovering with two vertebrae fused together. She still carries X-rays of the injury so that if she is ever in an accident, the hospital will know not to prise the vertebrae apart.[8]

Career

Alcott made her FIS race debut in August 1997 in a Giant Slalom event at Coronet Peak, New Zealand.[9] By the end of the 1997/1998 season, she had made her debuts in both the FIS Junior World Championships (Chamonix) and the British National Championships (Tignes), where she won a Silver medal in the Giant Slalom.[10]

She returned to the Australia/New Zealand Cup during the 1998 European summer, winning the overall championship. The following winter Alcott won Silver (super G) and Bronze (giant slalom) medals at the 1999 European Youth Olympics in Štrbské Pleso, Slovakia. In December 1999, Alcott made her World Cup debut in a giant slalom race in Lienz, Austria.[11] The winter of 1999 also saw her crowned World Schools Champion, before adding the World Artificial[12] and Australian Overall Championships to her name in 2000.

At the 2001 Junior World Championships, Alcott finished 8th in the slalom event on her way to 5th in the overall classification.[13] This season also saw Alcott capture the 2001 British Junior title and the Senior British super G title in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.[14][15]

2002 and the Salt Lake City Winter Games

At 19 years of age, Alcott was ranked in the Top 10 in the world for her age group, while also rising from 683rd to 126th in the downhill rankings over the course of the season.[6][16]

Her Olympic debut[17] followed in Salt Lake City, Utah. She competed in all of the Alpine disciplines with a best result of 14th position in the combined event.[18]

Later in the season, Alcott returned to the Junior World Championships, finishing in 4th place based on overall championship points (ahead of Lindsey Vonn).[19] In her final British Junior Championships, Alcott won all the titles on offer. She also won British Senior tiles in the Giant Slalom, Super G and Downhill – claiming the Overall Senior crown for the first time.[20]

2003

In March 2003, Alcott scored her first World Cup points by finishing 27th in a GS event in Innsbruck, Austria.[21]

At the British National Championships in Tignes, France, Alcott won the slalom title for the first time on her way to a clean sweep of all the discipline titles.[22]

2004

Throughout the 2004 World Cup season, Alcott consistently finished in the top-30, including an 11th-place finish in the Lake Louise super G – less than 1.5 seconds behind Renate Goetschl's winning time.[23]

In January 2004, Alcott achieved her first top-10 result, a 9th-place finish in the Cortina dDownhill.[24] It was the best result by a British woman for more than 30 years, after Gina Hathorn's 9th-place finish in a Slalom at Heavenly Valley in March 1972.[25]

However, a knee ligament injury meant that Alcott was unable to defend her British titles.[5][26]

2005

At the 2005 World Championships (Santa Caterina, Italy), Alcott finished 19th in the Downhill, 22nd in the Super G and 35th in the Giant Slalom.

At the British National Championships (Meribel, France), Alcott again won the Downhill, Super G, and Slalom), also winning the Victrix Ludorum trophy for the Overall Championship for the third time.[27]

2006 and the Torino Winter Games

The Torino Winter Olympic Games saw Alcott finish 11th in the downhill, the best Olympic performance by a British female skier since 1968.[6] Alcott was however disqualified from the combined event following the first run of the slalom, where her skis were found to be 0.2 mm narrower than the FIS regulations allowed.[28] She recorded 19th and 22nd-place finishes in the super G and giant slalom events, respectively.

In the World Cup, Alcott achieved seven top-30 results, with a best finish of 12th place in the super G at Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria.[29]

In a weather-disrupted British Championships (Meribel, France), Alcott won the slalom and giant slalom titles. The super G was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, as was the Senior downhill. However it was decided to award the Senior downhill title using the results of the previous day's Junior race, in which Alcott did not compete. This meant that Katrina Head pipped her to the Overall British title, ending Alcott's stranglehold on the Victrix Ludorum trophy.[30]

Post-Torino and 2007

A few weeks after the Olympics, Alcott's mother Eve died suddenly, and consequently Alcott decided to take some time away from the sport.[31]

During her break from racing, Alcott underwent surgery on her feet to remove the bunionettes that had been troubling her for years. Alcott's recovery period was extended by two months to five months following a fall during rehabilitation where she re-broke her left foot.[31]

Alcott began the 2007 season with two 13th-place finishes in the first two downhills of the season at Lake Louise and an 11th-place finish in the super G at the Canadian resort.[32] This was followed by a 7th-place finish in the next event in Reiteralm, Austria, in a Super Combined competition,[33] the best result of her career to date. Alcott also finished 9th in the Tarvisio Downhill and had four top-20 results in Giant Slalom, qualifying Alcott for her first World Cup Finals (Lenzerheide, Switzerland), where she placed 15th in the Giant Slalom.[34]

At the British Alpine Championships in Meribel, Alcott won all four titles on offer: the downhill, super G, giant slalom, and slalom events.

2008

Alcott had a relatively poor 2008 World Cup season, except for 16th and 17th-place finishes in the downhill and super combined events at St. Anton and a 16th-place finish in the GS race in Maribor, Slovenia.[35]

At the British Championships in Meribel, France, Alcott won the downhill, super G, giant slalom, and slalom titles. She also finished second to 19-year-old Louise Thomas in the super combined.[36] The Championships also saw Alcott take the Overall title for the fifth time.

2009

Alcott finished 10th in the opening giant slalom of the season in Sölden, Austria. However, she broke her ankle during training for the next race in Canada, resulting in three months on the sidelines.[37] On her return to action, Alcott finished 15th in the GS at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, and then 21st in the super G at Garmisch the following weekend.

At the 2009 World Championships, Alcott finished 21st in the super G. In the following event, the super combined, Alcott had to restart her downhill run after approximately one minute due to a fall by the previous competitor, Frida Hansdotter. On her re-reun, she finished 13th on her way to 19th overall.[38][39] In the actual Downhill race, Alcott finished 15th,[40][41] whilst she finished 29th in the giant slalom – the result of a fall during the second run.[42][43]

Alcott won all five races at the British National Championships (Meribel, France), downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and super combined titles.[44]

2011

Alcott sustained a double fracture of her right leg when she crashed training for the World Cup downhill race at Lake Louise, Canada, on 2 December 2010, and consequently missed the entire 2011 skiing season.[45]

2012

In Winter/Spring 2012, Alcott competed in ITV1's Dancing on Ice alongside professional skater Sean Rice. They finished 5th place in the competition and were eliminated on 11 March 2012.

2018

Alcott promotes a Brighton-based school travel company.

In February, Alcott beat Graham Bell in a head-to-head slalom race filmed for BBC's 'Ski Sunday'.[46] In November Chemmy Alcott was interviewed by The Telegraph about her views on the gender gap in skiing and why so few women go skiing.[47]

Broadcasting

During her injury lay-off at the start of the 2009 World Cup season, Alcott joined Matt Chilton in the British Eurosport commentary box as guest commentator for several of the women's World Cup events.

Alcott has previously appeared on Channel 4's World Cup Skiing programme, with a regular feature called Fit to Ski,[48] in which she demonstrated different exercise techniques.

In January 2012 it was announced that Alcott would take part in the ITV programme Dancing on Ice. There was some concern that this would put at risk her rehabilitation from the fractured leg she sustained in December 2010.[49]

In 2018 she was part of the BBC's team providing coverage on the 2018 Winter Olympics.[50]

Personal life

In June 2008, Alcott climbed Mount Kilimanjaro along with fellow ski racers Julia Mancuso and Laurenne Ross, and Alcott's then boyfriend Mark Weaver. The climb raised US$30,000 for international humanitarian organisation Right to Play.[51][52]

As of January 2009, she lives in Hampton Court, England.[53] Chemmy is also a motor sport fan; has an MSA Competition Licence and competed in the 2012 Silverstone Classic Celebrity Challenge race.

In October 2013, the BBC reported that Alcott was to marry her current boyfriend, and fellow alpine ski racer, Dougie Crawford.[3][54] They married in 2014; she now uses the name Chemmy Crawford-Alcott.[55]

She has been actively involved with the Ski Club of Great Britain for a number of years and was given the title of Honorary President in 2017.

Results

World Cup Top-10 finishes

Season	Date	Location	Discipline	Result	Notes
2010	18 December 2009	Val-d'Isère, France	Super Combined	9th
2009	25 October 2008	Sölden, Austria	Giant Slalom	10th
2007	3 March 2007	Tarvisio, Italy	Downhill	9th
	15 December 2006	Reiteralm, Austria	Super Combined	7th
2004	18 January 2004	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Downhill	9th

World Cup Season standings

Season	Overall		Downhill		Slalom		Giant Slalom		Super G		Combined
	Rank	(Pts)	Rank	(Pts)	Rank	(Pts)	Rank	(Pts)	Rank	(Pts)	Rank	(Pts)
2011*	injured 2 Dec 2010, out for season
2010	32	(175)	41	(10)	−	(−)	26	(44)	18	(68)	8	(53)
2009	55	(117)	38	(20)	−	(−)	28	(50)	36	(25)	25	(22)
2008	63	(76)	39	(26)	−	(−)	28	(25)	42	(9)	28	(16)
2007	32	(249)	27	(84)	−	(−)	21	(76)	33	(37)	13	(52)
2006	60	(82)	51	(11)	−	(−)	−	(−)	29	(66)	38	(5)
2005	78	(30)	42	(12)	−	(−)	−	(−)	43	(16)	−	(-)
2004	51	(139)	27	(68)	−	(−)	39	(21)	39	(50)	−	(-)
2003	115	(4)	−	(−)	−	(−)	−	(−)	50	(4)	−	(-)

Source:[2]

Major championships

Event	Date	Location	Discipline	Result
XXI Olympic Winter Games	26 February 2010	Whistler Creekside, Canada	Slalom	27
	24 February 2010		Giant Slalom	DNF
	20 February 2010		Super G	20
	18 February 2010		Super Combined	11
	17 February 2010		Downhill	13
2009 World Championships	12 February 2009	Val-d'Isère, France	Giant Slalom	29
	9 February 2009		Downhill	15
	6 February 2009		Super Combined	17
	3 February 2009		Super G	20
2007 World Championships	13 February 2007	Åre, Sweden	Giant Slalom	27
	11 February 2007		Downhill	DNF
	9 February 2007		Super Combined	DNF
	6 February 2007		Super G	28
XX Olympic Winter Games	24 February 2006	Sestriere, Italy	Giant Slalom	22
	20 February 2006	San Sicario, Italy	Super G	19
	18 February 2006	Sestriere, Italy	Combined	DSQ
	15 February 2006	San Sicario, Italy	Downhill	11
2005 World Championships	11 February 2005	Santa Caterina, Italy	Slalom	DNS
	8 February 2005		Giant Slalom	35
	6 February 2005		Downhill	19
	4 February 2005		Combined	DNF
	30 January 2005		Super G	22
2003 World Championships	13 February 2003	St. Moritz, Switzerland	Giant Slalom	25
	9 February 2003		Downhill	33
XIX Olympic Winter Games	22 February 2002	Park City, US	Giant Slalom	30
	20 February 2002	Deer Valley, USA	Slalom	DNF
	17 February 2002	Snowbasin, USA	Super G	28
	14 February 2002		Combined	14
	12 February 2002		Downhill	32
2001 World Championships	19 January 2001	St. Anton, Austria	Super G	36
1999 World Championships	13 February 1999	Vail, USA	Slalom	DNF
	11 February 1999		Giant Slalom	33

Junior World championships

Event	Date	Location	Discipline	Result
2002 Junior World Championships	February/March 2002	Sella Nevea, Italy	Overall (Points)	4
	3 March 2002	Ravascletto, Italy	Giant Slalom	13
	1 March 2002	Sella Nevea, Italy	Slalom	22
	28 February 2002	Tarvisio, Italy	Super G	DNF
	29 February 2002		Downhill	12
2001 Junior World Championships	February 2001	Verbier, Switzerland	Overall (Points)	5
	10 February 2001		Giant Slalom	19
	10 February 2001		Slalom	8
	7 February 2001		Super G	21
	6 February 2001		Downhill	18
2000 Junior World Championships	26 February 2000	Lac Beauport, Canada	Slalom	DNF
	25 February 2000	Stoneham, Canada	Giant Slalom	21
	22 February 2000	Mt. St. Anne, Canada	Super G	26
1998 Junior World Championships	1 March 1998	Chamonix, France	Giant Slalom	72
	28 February 1998		Slalom	56
	27 February 1998		Super G	DNS

Other achievements

• London Youth Games
  • Hall of Fame member (Class of 2011)[7]

References

1. "Chemmy Alcott". Team Great Britain. Olympic athlete profile. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
2. "Chemmy Alcott". FIS. World Cup season standings. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
3. Mintz, Geoff (25 March 2014). "Chemmy Alcott retires from ski racing". Ski Racing. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
4. Anstead, Mark (5 November 2006). "On the move: Chemmy Alcott". timesonline. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
5. Wilkinson, Carl (3 October 2004). "I never get sick of seeing snow". London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
6. "Chimene Alcott". British Olympic Association. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
7. Richards, Joshua (7 October 2011). "Dalton Grant joins Hall of Fame and vows to inspire next generation". London: London 24. Archived from the original on 2 November 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
8. "Chemmy Alcott bio". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
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11. "resultats". FIS-Ski. 28 December 1999. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
12. "World Artificial Ski Slope Championships". Lsersa.org. 28 May 2000. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
13. "resultats". FIS-Ski. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
14. "Chemmy Alcott Results". Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
15. "biographie". FIS-Ski. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
16. "BBC SPORT | Winter Olympics 2002 | Features | Alcott's all-round altitude test". BBC News. 9 February 2002. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
17. "Chemmy Alcott". Team GB. BBC Sport. 21 January 2002. Retrieved 4 January 2008.
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19. Let go of your conscious self and act on instinct. "Chemmy Alcott 5th in World Juniors, 2002". Natives.co.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
20. Let go of your conscious self and act on instinct (18 January 2002). "British Ski Alpine Champs 2002, Day 3: The British Land Downhill Championship". Natives.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
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26. Let go of your conscious self and act on instinct (21 March 2004). "The British Land National Ski Championships Meribel". Natives.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
27. "Mickel and Alcott win Downhill". www.natives.co.uk. 26 March 2005. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
28. "Alcott disqualified for ski error". BBC News. 17 February 2006. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
29. "biographie". FIS-Ski. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
30. Let go of your conscious self and act on instinct (28 March 2006). "British Land British Downhill title decided by weather in Meribel". Natives.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
31. Hart, Simon (15 October 2006). "Sadness that drives snow queen". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
32. Let go of your conscious self and act on instinct (8 December 2006). "Chemmy Alcott recovers from surgery to place in top 15". Natives.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
33. "resultats". FIS-Ski. 15 December 2006. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
34. "resultats". FIS-Ski. 18 March 2007. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
35. "resultats". FIS-Ski. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
36. "biographie". FIS-Ski. 30 March 2008. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
37. Thompson, Anna (26 November 2008). "BBC SPORT Alcott sidelined by broken ankle". BBC News. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
38. https://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gRSIkStpRq5AUzBkDmjzfRvItbeg. Retrieved 6 February 2009. Missing or empty |title= (help)
39. "resultats". FIS-Ski. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
40. "BBC SPORT | Other sport... | Winter Sports | Women's downhill race postponed". BBC News. 8 February 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
41. "resultats". FIS-Ski. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
42. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
43. "resultats". FIS-Ski. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
44. Benammar, Emily (4 April 2009). "Chemmy Alcott wins women's overall title; Ed Drake and Dave Ryding share men's". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
45. "Chemmy Alcott ruled out of entire season". The Telegraph. 5 December 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
46. "Ski Sunday: Graham Bell & Chemmy Alcott go head-to-head in Stockholm slalom". BBC Sport. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
47. Martin, Iain (14 November 2018). "The reason why so few women go heli-skiing: Chemmy Alcott on the gender gap in the mountains". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
48. "World Cup Skiing – Fit to Ski". CHANNEL 4. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
49. "Chemmy Alcott Dancing on Ice a risk, says ski boss". BBC web-site. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
50. "Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games". BBC Media Centre. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
51. Archived 3 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine
52. "Chemmy Alcott climbs Killimanjaro for Right To Play". YouTube. 28 December 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
53. "Alcott pulls out of comeback race". BBC. 12 January 2009. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
54. "Chemmy Alcott targets December comeback after fund-raising bid". BBC. 10 October 2013.
55. "CRAWFORD-ALCOTT Chemmy - Athlete Information". www.fis-ski.com.

External links

• Chemmy Alcott at the International Ski Federation
• Chemmy Alcott at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
• Chemmy Alcott at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Chemmy Alcott's BOA Profile
• Official website
• Chemmy Alcott's SnowsportGB Profile
• A Chemmy Alcott fan bio website
• Chemmy Alcott – Maximuscle Ambassador Profile