Skiing twins from Brentwood School reach national top 5 position

Posted on 8th Oct 2019 in School News, Achievements, Competition, Sport

First year students Sam and Max Kingsley competed in the BISS (British Independent Schools Skiing) Indoor Open Championships on Monday 30th September. The National Championships were open to any competitor attending an Independent School, who could compete individually or for their school.

The competition involved 215 competitors and Sam came 2nd and Max 4th in their respective age group (U12). This is a tremendous achievement for such young skiers, and to top it off, they returned to School for their last period of the day, such is their commitment to their studies.

The twins first went on skis at 18 months, achieved the ESF Gold Standard aged 6 and have been competing for the last three years at schools indoor events in the UK and a few Alpine events in France, Switzerland and Italy. They train most weeks at Hemel Hempstead ski slope, and two or three weeks a year with Emma Carrick-Anderson (former GB Olympic skier) and Phil Brown (Impulse Racing).

Asked how they felt about their experience, Sam and Max said “We were both feeling confident we’d do quite well because our training has been going well over the past few months, so we were able to relax a bit this time and really go for it.”

They are inspired by top British names Dave Ryding and James Woods, but the two boys are also hugely competitive with each other and spur each other on in all sports. In skiing they are frequently only a few tenths of a second apart and usually when one beats the other in one race, the next race sees the other inch ahead. It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on these two in the months and years to come!