TJ Baldwin misses out on an Olympic place due to wind

Downhill skier TJ Baldwin narrowly missed out on a place in the British squad for the Vancouver Olympics due to a freak gust of wind.

The Norfolk teenager who competes in the Europa Cup thought he had qualified but missed the time by 0.93s.

"He couldn't work out why he was slower, he spoke to a coach who told him he was hit by a gust of wind, which slowed him down," said his dad Andrew.

Baldwin moves on to the World Junior Championships, beginning on Sunday.

"He didn't really find out what went wrong until an hour or so after the run when he'd had a chance to speak to some of the coaches.

"It was the next day that he was annoyed as he had skied the course so well."

TJ has his sights firmly set on stepping up to the premier skiing competition, the World Cup circuit, but is happy to learn his trade over the Europa Cup events.

He won a bronze medal in January at the Austrian Junior Championships and will be the only British representative at the World Junior Championships in France.

"He may start a few World Cup events in the 2011 season and certainly by 2012 he'll be in the majority," said his dad Andrew.

The British Ski and Snowboarding Federation, who help fund British skiing, has experienced huge financial problems and is hundreds of thousands of pounds in debt leaving potential champions like TJ struggling.

"You have to be away from home so much, it costs an enormous amount of money just to be on the race circuit.

"The federation are in severe financial difficulties. We don't know if there's enough money to get TJ to the World Championships.

"Hopefully there is enough to get him there as he has a great chance of getting a medal."