Harpenden skier Max Baggio believes small mistakes cost him dearly despite picking up a bronze medal at the Delancey British National Alpine Ski Championships on Saturday.

The men’s junior and Under-18 giant slalom race was contested in Tignes, France and Baggio produced a combined time of 2.15.09 minutes to claim junior bronze.

A dramatic race saw the 20-year-old lying second behind only Paul Henderson following the first run but failed to catch Henderson on run two and was also overhauled for silver by Alex Barounos.

There was only 0.17 seconds separating the top three at the end and Baggio admits it was a tough day of skiing.

“I thought I skied ok – in the first run I just had a little mistake at the top but overall I was quite happy with it,” said Baggio.

“The second run it didn’t feel great but I think that was mostly because of the snow and the conditions.

“It was quite tight in the end – there was less than two-tenths of a second between first and third and I got bronze.

“The second run was particularly tough, it was just quite turny compared to the first run. It was softer snow, so it was quite hard to press on it and come round cleanly, so it was tough to get it right.

“Obviously I would have liked to have been higher up on the podium but Alex skied well and deserved to take silver in the end.”

The Delancey British National Alpine Ski Championships run until April 1 and are the biggest event of the year for the British ski racing world – with Delancey as the principal sponsor for the sixth year running.

Baggio has now racked up one gold, four silvers and a bronze at this year’s Championships with one final race left on Sunday – the junior slalom – and he is targeting one last effort.

“I’m looking forward to the slalom on Sunday – it’s the final race of the week and it should be good fun, so I will try my best,” added Baggio.

“It should be cool and I just need one last little push. We’ll see if I can get another medal and hopefully it will come off for me.”

To follow the progress of the Delancey British Alpine Ski Team visit www.teambss.org.uk or follow @teambss on Twitter. As Principal Sponsor of British Ski and Snowboard, Delancey is proud to be able to provide British athletes with the support they require to win World Cup and Winter Olympic medals. For more information visit www.delancey.com.