Sparky

Name: TJ Baldwin
Age: 16 yrs old
Date of Birth: August 1990
Where he grew up: Long Stratton & Tharston, Norfolk
Age he started skiing: 6 yrs old
The first competition he won: At the age of 9, he won the Eastern Region championships at the end of his first season.
His Ranking: Currently ranked No. 1 and the best U16 skier in Great Britain.
Education: He has been to all 3 schools in Long Stratton and is now studying for his GCSE’s.

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Profile
TJ Baldwin learnt to ski at the Norfolk Ski Club dry slope at Trowse, Norwich when he was just 6 years old. At the age of 9, TJ started to race for Norfolk on dry slopes and won the Eastern Region championships at the end of his first season. He then went on to win a European Championship, a British Championship, 3 more Eastern region Championships and 3 Eastern Region summer league titles. Tj was also Runner-up twice at the All England Championships.

In 2002, TJ started training on snow at the British Ski Academy (BSA) in Les Houches, France, and has trained there for the last 4 seasons. He spends 8 to 12 weeks in the winter months combining skiing with fitness and schooling, and during summer and autumn he spends 3 to 6 weeks training on the glaciers throughout Europe.

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News
TJ ended last season as a record breaker.

In the British Junior Championships in April held at Meribel he did the clean sweep of all 3 titles in his age group, winning the Slalom, Giant Slalom (GS) & Super G. In winning the GS he also scored just 61.02 FIS world ranking points, this was the best score in any event by a first year J1 male GB racer, had he scored another race at that level he would have been ranked inside the top 40 in the world for his YOB.

His FIS points score in winning the Super G also helped to make his end of season points the lowest ever by a first year J1 GB male by 25 points!

When he won the Slalom he scored his best points of the season (75.24). This was again one of the best ever by a first year J1 GB male.

He has been selected for the British Youth Ski team for 2006/7 (his 2nd year) & the English Alpine ‘A’ team for 2006/7 (2nd year). He will also be training with the British Home Nations team at the BOA winter training base at Lofer in Austria for a large part of this season (06/07).

He will start this season ranked No1 in Downhill & Super G & No2 in Slalom & GS in GB (J1 age group)

In December, whilst in Norway training with the England team, he will take part in time trials for selection to the GB team going to the European Youth Olympics held in Jaca, Spain Next February. There will be 44 nations with over 1200 athletes taking part. He is one of the favourites to be selected due to his ranking & FIS points scores.

TJ’s race season starts on Dec 27th in Norway where he will take part in 8 FIS races in 13 days before returning to Austria then racing all over Europe in another 40+ FIS races until the British Champs at the end of the season in April.

jimberan

It will be interested to follow this young Brit and to see if he can break through in the senior category and do well on the Olympics. You dont see many Brits do well skiing.

SkiLover

I prefer U16 girls though. :P haha

Plugboy

To update you all on TJ.
He won more British titles in April 07 in Super G (U17, U18 & U21)& was was first Jun 1 (U17) in both the Sen & Jun Downhills.
He was selected to the full-time GB team as he made selection criteria in Downhill, Super G & GS.
He started training with them in May alongside all the GB World Cup racers, Finlay Mickel, Alain & Noel Baxter.
He spent 4 weeks in the summer racing & training in Chile with the team. Whilst there he took part in some South American Cup races (Nor Am equivalents).
In the 2 Super G's he raced he was 2nd Junior (U21) and was less than 1 sec behind the 2006 Olympic Downhill Champ Antione Deneriaz. He scored an average of 48.11 FIS points. This now ranks him at No 10in the world for age 17 & under in Super G, and No 72 in the World Junior rankings (U21)

In October he trained in Austria with the GB team and was invited to do some timed Super G training runs with most of the female USA & AUT World Cup team. Only 1 racer beat him, Alex Meissnitzer from Austria. He beat Lindsey Vonn, Marlies Schild, Libby Ludlow, Nicole Hosp, Kaylin Richardson etc.

He has been back in Austria for the past 3 weeks at the BOA training base in Lofer. He has just started his European race programme of around 60 FIS races. A few DNF's to start with but he scored a 47 in his last GS (with a bad 2nd run) which is his best result in that discipline and a qualifying score for the World Junior champs.

He is hoping to get to the Olympics, if he carries on like this he will do. Not bad for a kid from one of the lowest and flattest parts of Europe!

TJ's Dad

Plugboy

Another update on TJ

He has just won all 6 U18 titles at the recent British Senior champs. That's Downhill, Super G, GS, Super Combined, Slalom & Overall Combined.

He was the top Junior (U21) racer at the champs finishing 1st in Super G, Slalom & Super Combined, 1st = in GS and 2nd in Downhill. (no trophies awarded for these)

He also got on the Senior podium twice finishing 3rd in both the Slalom & Super G. He was 4th = in GS, 5th in Sup Combined & 6th in Downhill.

He is now ranked No12 in the World for U18 in Super G and No15 in Downhill

Here he is in action in the Super G


Photo by Racer Ready.

He's had a week off but starts his training for next season tomorrow!!!

Plugboy (proud Dad!)