By Anna Thompson Winter sports editor

Alcott finished ninth in the Cortina downhill

Britain's top ski racers are fine tuning their fitness ahead of the start of the World Cup season.

And there are big hopes for ski team veteran Alain Baxter and all-rounder Chemmy Alcott.

Over the summer, slalom specialist Baxter, who is ranked 30th in the world, changed his skis and boots to Atomic and has been performing consistently faster in training.

Head coach Christian Schwaiger told BBC Sport: "Alain is in good shape and he has got really good equipment.

"He wants to regain a top 15 spot in the standings and he knows he could make the podium in races if he performs well."

Alcott has been stating for a number of years she was targeting the 2006 Winter Olympics for potential medals.

British skiing is in a pretty healthy state and we have some young guys in the junior groups which are exciting prospects indeed Christian Schwaiger

But the 22-year-old began to show her true potential last season when she leapt up the world rankings with five top 20 finishes last season, including ninth in the Cortina d'Ampezzo downhill in Italy.

Her pre-season has been hampered however by a rib injury sustained during a free skiing accident in Switzerland.

Alcott has only just returned to the snow after a month's recuperation and time is running out to get fully fit ahead of the first race of the World Cup season, a giant slalom at Solden in Austria on 23 October.

She can compete in all four disciplines but this season will concentrate on downhill, super-G and giant slalom.

Schwaiger said: "She did very well last season although there were a couple of races at the end where she didn't perform well and an injury didn't help.

"Chemmy will compete in Solden but we're not sure how she'll do because she has missed quite a bit of pre-season training.

A World Cup podium still eludes Baxter

"We are hoping Chemmy can continue with top 30 results on a regular basis and if she stays fit, top 10s are not out of the question."

Downhiller Finlay Mickel also climbed up the rankings last season and was 41st in in the world in his discipline.

He has spent the summer in the southern hemisphere training and racing in New Zealand and Australia.

"We are hoping Finlay will get the benefit of all the extra work he has put in through the summer," said Schwaiger.

Baxter's younger brother Noel and James Leuzinger will take the second and third slots for the British team in some World Cup slaloms.

It will be the first time Leuzinger has raced in the World Cup, although both he and Noel will mainly concentrate on the second tier of ski racing, the Europa Cup.

Schwaiger added: "James will take part in a few World Cup races for the experience and if he does well then great but it is much more important for him to do well in the Europa Cup.

"All in all, I think British skiing is in a pretty healthy state.

"And we have some young guys in the junior groups which are exciting prospects indeed."