Britain's hopes at this weekend's Audi FIS Mens World Cup race in Val D'Isere, France, lie with Alain Baxter (Aviemore) and Andy Noble (Edinburgh).

The two Scots will be competing in the Slalom and Giant Slalom events on Saturday and Sunday, and both will require to be on top form to climb up the world rankings and genuinely challenge for a place in the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. Baxter is currently ranked 134 in the FIS points list in his favoured event, the Slalom, while Noble is ranked 136 in the Giant Slalom.

Baxter, 34, and Noble, 24, have been competing and training in the USA, but have now moved to Europe for the bulk of their pre-Olympic season. Their initial aim is to improve their rankings in order to move higher up the starting order for each World Cup race.

Mark Simmers, Snowsport GB CEO commented "the Vancouver Olympics are less than 14 months away, and the road to 2010 for Alain and Andy really starts now as the competitive season is fully underway."

"Alain is obviously very keen to get back onto the Olympic stage, his world ranking has dipped in the last couple of seasons due to a series of injuries, making it very difficult to qualify in the top 30 and the second slalom run at World Cup races. Things are looking good for him this season though and he will be working hard to lower his world ranking and thus put him in a more favourable position to perform at World Cup level. Andy has steadily risen up the Giant Slalom rankings over the past few seasons and we are hopeful that his improvement will continue and that he will soon be challenging for a top 30 place. This season he is returning from injury and almost a full season away from competitive skiing so he is desperate to get out there again.

"Both Alain and Andy have been doing well in training, so we hope that their efforts will be rewarded in the races.

"The news on the injuries to our top skiers Finlay Mickel (Edinburgh) and Chemmy Alcott (Twickenham) continues to be positive and we expect to see Chemmy back in competition early in the New Year."

It was good news for the younger skiers yesterday who are currently racing over in the USA. Ed Drake (Kingston) scored his best result at continental cup level competition, finishing 7th in the Downhill in the Lake Louise NAC (North American Cup). Doggy Crawford (Bearsden) finished 9th and Jan Kochalski (Torphins) 21st. Pam Thorburn (Strathaven) was also in action. This series of races are her first back since suffering a hip injury during training in Argentina this summer, she finished joint 13th. Drake, Crawford, Kochalski and Thorburn are all in action again today in Lake Louise before moving to Panorama next week for more races.