While December is holiday season for the Europeans and skiing as a sport, for Aanchal Thakur, India’s first international alpine skiing medallist, who won a bronze medal in the 2018 alpine Ejder 3200 Cup in Turkey, a bronze at the 2021 FIS Alpine Ski Competition held at Kolasin, Montenegro, and four silver medals at the UAE Alpine Slalom Championships held at Dubai in 2022, it’s hard work on Europe’s slopes. 

For more than a month, Thakur has been training on the slopes of France, Italy and Austria, preparing for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Cortina, Italy — also called the Milano Cortina 2026. Thakur is currently practising on the slopes of Tignes here in France, ahead of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) race season that begins later this month. The 29-year-old, who is just about five feet tall, divides her time between slopes in winter, glaciers in summer when in Europe, and dry training in India before she hits the Alpine slopes again.