Aviemore ski great Alain Baxter to join GB Alpine set-up
GB Snowsport has announced that Aviemore slalom ski great Alain Baxter is joining the men’s Alpine World Cup Squad.
He has been appointed as a high performance coach for the team.
Baxter said: “It is an honour to be back with the GB Snowsport team. I’m really looking forward to joining a team that trains hard and the athletes show nothing but pure determination and a great team spirit.
"It’s going to be great working with Dave (Ryding), especially as we trained together all those years back, and now he’s one of the best in the world!
"The potential we have with Laurie (Taylor) and Billy (Major is really exciting as well. It shows the ability and the strength that we have in our squad and I look forward to working hard with them to achieve their goals.”
Paul Trayner, GB Snowsport, Director of Alpine, said: “We are delighted to welcome Alain into our World Cup coaching team and excited to see how this team develops together.
"Alain brings a wealth of knowledge and his appointment demonstrates GB Snowsport’s commitment to pair our best athletes with the best coaches to help generate truly World Class training environments.”
Baxter retired from international competition in April 2009 having raced with the British alpine ski team for 17 years.
He was ranked 11th in the world, the best of any British alpine skier, in the 2000-2001 season.
Baxter famously won Olympic bronze in 2002 in the men's slalom at the Salt Lake City games – Great Britain's first ever Olympic ski medal – but was later stripped after failing a drugs test.
He had taken a non-performance enhancing substance after using a US version of a Vicks decongestant nasal spray for a long standing medical condition.
Baxter was later cleared of any deliberate wrong-doing but his disqualification stood under the IOC's anti-doping policy strict liability rule.
