Two Suffolk skiers are planning to make their mark at the English Alpine Championships, which start this weekend.

Honor Bartlett and Tilly Black will be in action in Bornio, northern Italy, as the best skiers in the country go head-to-head on the slopes between Febuary 11 and 16.

Bartlett, 12, came second in the giant slalom at last year’s event, and the Polstead youngster is hoping to go one better this time around.

It will be her first year competing in the under-14s but, rather than be intimidated, she is relishing the chance to battle it out in more competitions in Bormio.

“I want to do the best I can possibly do so I’m just going to go the quickest I can!” said the Woodbridge School pupil.

“The best thing about racing is the speed of it! I’ll be doing the Super-G, slalom and the GS out in Bormio.

“I’m really excited about making that step up because before I wasn’t allowed to do Super-G, but now I am! I love the speed events.

“My long-term goal is definitely to get to the Winter Olympics. I definitely want to get into downhill racing as well!”

Meanwhile Black, 14, will move up to the Under-16s category this year, so will have to compete against older rivals.

“It’s my first year in the Under-16s so I don’t really have goals in terms of position, I just want to get out there and try my best,” said the Bury St Edmunds teenager.

“I’m going to be doing all the Under-16 races in Bormio so I’ll be quite busy.

“Last year was my first time at the Championships so this will only be my second time there, I’m looking forward to going back.”

The Millfield School pupil added: “My season’s going really well, I’ve done the Anglo-Scottish Cup and the British Schoolgirls, they both went well.”

“At the Anglo-Scottish I won the slalom in the Under-15s, some of the other racers fell but that happens in skiing!

“I was the fourth in one of the other slaloms and then I was third at the British Schoolgirls, our Millfield School team won the parallel slalom and that was only a few weeks ago.”

- For this Winter Olympics season Snowsport England has launched ‘PyeongChang to Piste’ (www.pyeongchangtopiste.org.uk), featuring events and taster sessions run by various clubs and slopes throughout the country along with tailored downloadable resources for schools