Alpine skier Charlie Raposo admits he is stepping into the unknown at the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Brasov but he insists he does so with high expectations.
The 17-year-old, who is currently based in Vermont in America, has been competing non-stop since November with almost 30 races completed in downhill, super G, slalom and giant slalom.
He is in his second season as a FIS competitor and picked up his first win in a slalom race in Sugarbush before Christmas before repeating the trick in Ontario at the start of the month.
Raposo therefore heads to Romania for the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival with high hopes even if he reveals that he doesn’t know who he will be up against or how good they will be.
“I have been competing pretty heavily since November when the season started,” said Raposo – who grew up skiing in Verbier in Switzerland.
“I haven’t stopped yet, I haven’t stopped for classes, I haven’t stopped for anything and things are feeling good right now.
“I am not 100 per-cent sure who is going to be out there and the oldest guys are going to be a year older than me but I am not going to use that as an excuse.
“I expect a lot out of myself and I am going to ski the best I can, if I ski the best I can and know that I couldn’t have done any better that will be good enough.
“There are always tenths to get so you just have to fight for all of that and hope that it holds up. We’ll see, it’s hard to say right now but expectations are high I know that much.”
© Sportsbeat 2013