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Chemmy Alcott’s new performance movement coach knew she had a problem when she asked Britain’s top ski racer to stand on one foot, only to promptly see her fall over. The demands of the downhill course mean the skier, when she is not skimming like a human pebble over icy bumps at 70mph, balances on one foot in high-speed turns. “She would fall over when I asked her to either move her arms or close her eyes,” said Joanne Elphinston. “It wasn’t what I expected from an elite skier.”

A training crash in St Anton, Austria, in the latest round of the World Cup has not helped Alcott’s progress, leaving her with badly bruised shins. To add insult to injury, a horror second run in yesterday’s super combined event saw Alcott finish 26.79sec off the pace to go with her 16th in Friday’s downhill.

Elphinston, who helps athletes optimise body movements necessary for their sports, was looking at the 25-year-old skier at the request of Sir Clive Woodward. Woodward is working with the British Olympic Association (BOA) to identify Britain’s potential Olympic medallists and provide them with the support they need to win medals. A chance meeting with Alcott led him to helping her put together a team of top specialists no British skier has had access to before.

Alcott has been racing on the World Cup circuit since she was 17 and has competed in two Olympics, finishing 11th in the downhill in Turin in 2006. She broke into the world’s top 30 last season, and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when she will be 28, is in her sights for a medal.

“I told Sir Clive that my team consisted of a physio and a coach, and he was quite surprised at the lack of science involved in my skiing,” Alcott said. Woodward put together a team of professionals drawn from those who helped him coach England to the 2003 rugby World Cup. “I recommended five coaches she should work with who would diagnose and correct recurring issues to enable Chemmy to achieve her potential,” Woodward said.

They included Dave Reddin, who headed the rugby team’s physical training, nutritionist Adam Carey, medic Charlotte Cowie, sensory motor skills coach Tag Lamche and Elphinston. She is also hoping to work with sports psychologist Dave Alred, Jonny Wilkinson’s coach. “I’m very intuitive, but I had got as far as I could get on my own,” Alcott said. When Woodward’s team started their analysis, they soon discovered problems. “She couldn’t tell in her bare feet whether she was standing on concrete, carpet or grass,” recalled Elphinston.

Alcott had trained herself to ignore pain from a wound on her foot but, apart from losing her feeling for the snow, she compensated for the lack of balance by locking her muscles and skiing with exaggerated force. “She was throwing her hips into the turn and making much bigger adjustments than needed,” said Elphinston. The coach used a pressure mat to start stimulating the nerves. “I would say that we are halfway there. I think we will get Chemmy to a point that comparable to other skiers.”

Elphinston works closely with Alcott’s physio Jeannette Korten, who travels with her, and Lamche, who has developed a drill in which Alcott must juggle three balls while spinning a hula-hoop around her waist and roll a football under her foot from toe to heel. “Athletes have to keep their heads calm, and juggling helps. While we are distracting the visual system we are adding a balance challenge and testing her foot sensitivity,” he explained.

Reddin’s programme builds on the work. “She was like a stiff spring and reacted in a very gross way to changes in terrain,” Reddin said. “We’ve tried to soften those springs up. I have no doubts there are big improvements to be made.”

Carey monitors her from long range through a sensory arm-band that relays back vital statistics. Cowie is on the team not just as a doctor to react in the case of an accident – as happened in that training run in St Anton on Thursday when she crashed at 70mph – but to ensure she is keeping her body healthy. “When people see how big the team is and see all the e-mails, they think this is all bombarding me with too much information,” Alcott said. “But the only ones I get are the things I need to change, and that may be one thing per week.”

The cost of the team is about £250,000 a year, funded by Alcott and her sponsors, in addition to the traditional ski coaches and technicians, provided through Snowsports GB, the governing body. “We hope we can get Chemmy on the full BOA programme,” Woodward said. “Her progress has been impressive. She has worked hard to put in place the recommendations of the team and this has already paid dividends on the slopes.”

Alcott’s performances have been steadily improving, but she is not one to rest. “There need to be glimpses of improvement this season, but I’ve waited seven years for this podium and if it takes another year of big change like this, I won't panic,“ she said.

Chemmy Alcott's website

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