St Swithun’s pupil wins skiing gold in Flaine
14 Feb 2012
12-year-old St Swithun’s pupil Coco Vulliamy Taylor won a gold medal at the 2012 British Schoolgirls Ski Races in Flaine last week. Coco finished 1st in the giant slalom, 2nd in slalom and 1st in the combined giant slalom and slalom, winning the overall gold medal in her category and the Club des Sports Cup.
153 skiers in 51 teams from all over the UK took part in 2 days of racing, with each competitor skiing 2 giant slalom runs, 2 slalom runs and a parallel slalom. Racers were aged from 11-18 and included all the top British junior skiers from the British team.
St Swithun’s fielded a relatively inexperienced squad, with Coco Vuillamy Taylor and Nathalie Harrison skiing competitively for the first time and Alexandra Baylis, Georgina Baylis and Emma Harrison competing in only their second championships. Conditions were especially hazardous for the second day with competitors having to race a challenging slalom through falling snow and bad visibility with soft snow building up on the course. Five out of six of the St Swithun’s skiers completed all 5 runs without incident and all achieved personal best times on the day. St Swithun’s A team finished 8th overall.
St Swithun’s A team – Lexi Radkiewicz (aged 15), Alexandra Baylis (aged 15) and Coco Vulliamy Taylor (aged 12)
St Swithun’s B team – Georgina Baylis (aged 13), Emma Harrison (aged 14) and Nathalie Harrison (aged 13)
Photo: Coco Vulliamy Taylor in action