Alex Tilley: Technical Racer, Beijing 2022
Alex Tilley, British technical specialist in slalom and giant slalom, two-time Winter Olympian (Pyeongchang 2018, Beijing 2022).
Getting to an Olympic Games is never straightforward. Getting there after returning to form, rebuilding results, requalifying, proving fitness and form on a circuit that does not wait, is considerably harder. Alex Tilley competed at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in both the women’s giant slalom (where she finished 22nd) and the women’s slalom, having previously appeared at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, and having done exactly that: returned to form to secure her place and then hold it through to the Games.
Tilley operated within the British Alpine squad as a technical-discipline racer, competing in both slalom and giant slalom on the Europa Cup and World Cup circuits. Her best World Cup result was thirteenth in the giant slalom at the Sölden season opener in October 2021. Her path to Beijing required a return to form following a period on the sidelines, sharpened by a broken ankle sustained in training in November 2021 from which she recovered in less than three months to make the Games.
Beijing 2022
Tilley competed in both technical events at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The giant slalom was held first; she finished 22nd. The slalom on the National Alpine Ski Centre venue followed, a technical course in conditions that had challenged the field throughout the Games. The event had become one of the most anticipated of the Games following Mikaela Shiffrin’s early exits in other disciplines.
She was part of a British women’s alpine contingent that included Charlie Guest, an experienced member of the British team. The two racing at the same Games represents a continuity of British women’s slalom on the international circuit, a slender thread, but a real one.
The Programme
Tilley has been part of the GB World Cup squad, competing in a technical programme across slalom and giant slalom that requires year-round training, Europa Cup racing to maintain ranking, and the commitment to operate as a professional athlete in a country that provides limited sporting infrastructure for alpine ski racing. The British programme has improved over the Ryding era, but the fundamental challenge, no home terrain, limited budget, a small national squad, remains the same as it has always been.
Her Olympic participation is the milestone that stands in the public record. The years of Europa Cup racing, the training camps, the season-by-season work to maintain the level: that is what made Beijing possible.