JACK Cunningham has returned home to Oxford after winning a gold medal at the Delancey British Alpine Skiing Championship in Tignes.

The youngster finished with the quickest combined time in the under-16 category of the giant slalom race, completing his two runs in 1min 32.66secs to claim the top spot in the final event of the children’s races.

Added to his gold in the Super G race, Cunningham ended the week with a total score of 200 points, which put him second overall out of the under 16 boys.

“I was really pleased,” said the teenager, who is also a member of Evolution, the best under-16 boys team of the week.

“I couldn’t have hoped for more. It was a bit of a shame in the slalom when I didn’t finish, but it doesn’t bother me too much, I had a brilliant rest of the week.

“It’s good to be able to compete against the rest of the country and see where you stand.

“The thoughts of it being my last children’s race weren’t really going through my head.

“I just wanted to focus on good skiing because that’s what makes you fast.”

Cunningham will be competing in senior races next season and claimed he is looking forward to the challenge, although he has to overcome the task of first completing his GCSEs at Cheltenham College.

The 16-year-old said: “I’m a little bit nervous for next year, but I think it’s going be fun being at the back again!

“Over summer I’m just going to ski as much as physically possible to try to get used to the new skis and

stuff.

“I’ve used the FIS regulated skis on the slalom.

“It’s a lot harder to turn, it’s a lot more effort, but I think it will be fine.

“I’ve got a tech camp in Austria for a few weeks then I’m off to Chile for a few months to train my speed.

“I’ve found school quite good this year because I’ve really started to see the importance of working hard.

“Then that allows me to do more skiing.”

l To follow the progress of the Delancey Brit=ish Alpine Ski Team visit www.teambss.org.uk or follow @teambss on Twitter. As Principal Sponsor of British Ski and Snowboard, specialist real estate investment and advisory company Delancey is proud to be able to provide British athletes with the support they require to win World Cup and Winter Olympic medals. For more information visit www.delancey.com.