Jack Gower might be arriving at the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival as the man to beat – but the Sandown Park Ski Club ace insists he won’t be making any bold gold-medal predictions.

Gower laid down the most impressive pre-Youth Olympic marker of all last week when he was crowned under-17 giant slalom world champion at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Crans Montana.

Hot on the heels of his Switzerland success comes the trip to Liberec for the EYOWF event which sees 1500 athletes from 44 European countries go head-to-head in the Czech Republic.

Gower, who hails from Chichester but now lives in Chelsea and attends Blythe Hall School, is part of the 15-strong GB team heading to Eastern Europe but despite his recent glories the 16-year-old insists he won’t be setting himself up for a fall next week.

“Winning at the world championships was amazing for me and I was so pleased to have won it,” said Gower, who is a member of Sandown Park Ski Race Club.

“I skied well out there and now I just want to concentrate on doing the same thing in Liberec. I don’t really know what to expect out there, there’ll be some people I’ll have skied against before and some others that I might not have so anything could happen.

“I would love to ski really well and if I do that anything is possible. My skiing has been going well this season so far and it’s been really good fun.

“Hopefully that will continue in the Czech Republic. It was a great feeling when I found out I had been selected and I can’t wait to get out there now.”

Despite being a jack of all the skiing trades Gower will concentrate on the giant slalom and slalom for the Eastern European event which runs from 12-19 February.

And the teenager – who spends much of his winter jetting to and from the European ski resorts – believes his GB teammates could be his secret weapon in the Czech Republic.

“It is going to be a really cool event and it will be great to meet all the guys in the rest of the team,” added Gower.

“My coaches and all the support I get is great during the season but it will be nice to have all the rest of the team there and I am sure it will make for a really good atmosphere.

“Hopefully we can all then support each other and all put in some really good performances and enjoy the experience.”

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