By Anna Thompson Winter sports editor

Podium finishes are totally possible and I would like to get back into the world's top 15 Alain Baxter

Britain's top skier Alain Baxter says he is not planning to retire for at least three more seasons.

Baxter aims to continue competing at the top level until after the 2007 World Championships in Are, Sweden.

He is hoping for a top performance at the 2006 Winter Olympics to put behind the nightmare of the Salt Lake City Games, in which he failed a drugs test.

Baxter told BBC Sport: "There are three big years coming up for me and I am very happy with the way I am skiing."

The 2004 season got under way last weekend with a men's giant slalom from Solden in Austria.

But Baxter, who much prefers the slalom, will wait until Beaver Creek in Colorado on 30 November to make his seasonal World Cup debut.

BAXTER'S WORLD CUP FACTS Best finish: 4th World ranking: 30th Top 15 finishes: 10

The 30-year-old Scot said he understands he will always be remembered for his positive drugs test after winning Britain's first skiing medal in 2002.

"It seems a long time since Salt Lake City. That chapter has closed for me but I know it will never go away," he said.

"I was cleared of any deliberate wrongdoing and I have got nothing to prove but I would love to perform well in Turin."

The slalom specialist is still searching for a podium finish in the World Cup and believes this season he could achieve that goal.

Last season was his second-best on paper with four top 20 finishes.

Baxter is confident ahead of the season

And he is skiing with confidence having changed his skis and boots to Atomic over the summer.

"I'm very happy with the way it's going and physically I'm very fit," Baxter said.

"I tested four different types of ski over the summer and Atomic came up trumps. I have been skiing consistently faster.

"Podium finishes are totally possible and I would like to get back into the world's top 15."

Last season's World Cup slalom champion Rainer Schoenfelder is free to race again despite failing a drugs test.

The Austrian Ski Federation accepted Schoenfelder's explanation that he had taken Influbene tablets for flu.

Baxter said: "Schoenfelder was lucky because he didn't have to face the International Olympic Committe like I did. The Austrian Ski Federation gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"And I suppose it is good common sense is prevailing and federations are looking at the difference between a genuine mistake and cheating."