Thames Ditton’s Alice Macaulay believes Britain’s best are in touching distance after a run of results at the Delancey British National Alpine Ski Championships that have left her full of promise for the future.

World Cup stars Dave Ryding and Alex Tilley graced the slopes of Tignes last week – and Macaulay proved she could well follow in their footsteps.

The University of Bath student enjoyed a string of successes, not least her second-place finish behind Tilley on the British Giant Slalom podium, before clinching the Junior title in the Slalom on Sunday.

And it was her battle with Tilley that captured her imagination the most over the course of the week, with the 20-year-old confident she can bridge the gap despite juggling her skiing with university.

“I’m really pleased with my giant slalom silver, I’m especially happy to put two reasonably decent runs together,” said Macaulay, who studies natural sciences.

“I usually struggle if I’ve done a good first run I’ll screw up the second or vice-versa. I was quite surprised and I didn’t notice anything that bad about the first run.

“And to finish just behind Alex is great. It’s great to race against these guys because you see them racing in the World Cup and the World Champs, and even though I may be two or so seconds off them, you realise it’s not that far off what you want to do next.

“Hopefully. next year, I can get it a bit more planned out. It’s a balancing act between university and skiing.

“University can wait for a certain extent, but with a scientific course you can’t wait forever. After taking a gap year I’ve found that I have already forgotten a few things from A-Level.

“I can hope I maintain my level while I’m still at university, and then when I have my degree I can go back to skiing and always fall back in it.”

Following the success of the Great Britain team at Sochi 2014 and with the support of Snowsport England’s national participation campaign GO SKI GO BOARD, it has been a tremendous year for British winter sports.

GO SKI GO BOARD started in September 2013 and more than 40,000 new people had taken at least one taster or coaching session through the campaign by the end of last year, and Macaulay believes it’s easier than ever to get involved.

“I started through my school ski club at Surbiton High, and it was quite big because Chemmy Alcott had been there,” she added.

“I did that and got asked to go to a schools’ race, and I was hooked onto it from then. The local club was Sandown which was five minutes from my house, and I did some dry slopes with them. Through that it all progressed and my parents couldn’t really say no anymore.

“There are way more indoor slopes now, if you live near one that’s great too. Up to a point, you can get the basics done well on there and you don’t need to fly out to France all the time.”

l As principal sponsor of British Ski and Snowboard, Delancey is proud to be able to provide British Athletes with the support and training they require to continue to be a real force in winter sports on a world stage. Follow @teambss or visit teambss.org.uk and delancey.com.