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UK Born Skier Becomes French Citizen

French Based Ben Cavet's decision prompted by lack of funding available in UK

featured in News & reviews Author Sophie Nicholson, Alpe d'Huez Editor Updated

18 year old Sussex born mogul skier Ben Cavet is becoming something of a legend in his chosen sport - mogul skiing. Having lived in Morzine for the past 7 years, Ben has honed his skills on the Alpine bumps and earlier this year won the French senior mogul championship.

The career of a mogul skier is not a long one as it is extremely physically demanding. For many years now Ben has trained with French clubs and coaches and last year made the decision to apply for a French licence. The licence enables him to ski for the French national team and this is key to helping Ben achieve his dreams of glory at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Earlier this year UK Sport announced an award of almost £350,000 for the sport's governing body - British Ski and Snowboarding. While Ben may have benefitted from some of this funding based on recent performances, his decision was already made and actually the question of which sports receive moneys in the UK is sometimes controlled by the sponsor. For example, British Ski and Snowboarding sponsor Delancey direct all of their funds specifically towards the UK alpine athletes. 

We wish Ben all the best on the bumps this season and likewise all competition skiers - downhillers and mogul experts, slalom gurus and freeriders, UK and French! To find out about all the latest competitions happening in resort this season, be sure to check in regularly with our events calendar