NORTH Yorkshire skier Jake Doyle is taking to the slopes at the English Alpine Ski Championships this weekend.

The 14-year-old, from Topcliffe, is to battle it out to be crowned national champion at the competition in Bormio, Italy, which runs from today until Thursday.

The championships, organised by Snowsport England, are a platform for rising stars bidding to emulate the likes of Chemmy Alcott and Dave Ryding, who is currently competing on the World Cup circuit.

Today’s opening parade is followed by five days of racing for more than 350 athletes across six categories - senior, junior, under-16, U14, U12 and U10.

British U14s ace Doyle last month finished second in the grand slalom at the Skiinterkriterium 2015 Youth International Race in the Czech Republic. He will ski for Great Britain again in Val D’Isere in April.

He won the slalom and giant slalom at the British Schoolboys competition in Meiringen, recording the best time of the day for both days, beating the U21s, U18s and U16s.

He has also won the U14s slalom and grand slalom at the European International Schools event in Wengan, plus two recent international school races in Switzerland.