Sochi 2014: Chemmy Alcott's selection hopes hit by snow

Chemmy Alcott's hopes of competing in a fourth Winter Olympics for Britain hang in the balance after bad weather forced her comeback race to be cancelled.

The 31-year-old alpine skier returned to training on the slopes in December after recovering from the broken leg she suffered in August 2012.

She needed to prove her race-fitness by Sunday to be considered by Team GB selectors for February's Sochi Games.

Britain's Winter Olympic team for Sochi will be announced on Wednesday.

Alcott, who also suffered a serious compound fracture in 2010, was due to compete in the Cortina World Cup in Italy - the final Olympic qualification event - on Saturday morning, but heavy snowfall caused the downhill race to be postponed for 24 hours.

A subsequent inspection of the course on Sunday saw racing cancelled once more with little prospect of it being re-scheduled before the Team GB Olympic squad was due to be announced.

"They [the race officials] won't do anything until the team captains meet on Tuesday afternoon," Alcott told BBC Sport.

"They would need 15 hours of blue skies before the piste is ready for a World Cup race."

Alcott made her Olympic debut in Salt Lake City in 2002, coming 14th in the super-combined, before best-placed finishes of 11th at both the 2006 Turin and 2010 Vancouver Games.

Since then she has broken her leg three times, seen her UK Sport funding axed and resorted to extreme fund-raising efforts in a bid to keep her dream alive.

Despite the setbacks, she achieved the minimum qualification standard for Team GB with two top-32 World Cup finishes during the qualification period.

However, in order to gain nomination, the British Ski and Snowboard Federation insisted they needed to see her compete strongly once more.

"Alcott needs to prove she can compete at the same level as she competed before she was injured," read a statement.

After finishing 91st in a second-tier Europa Cup event in Austria last week, the skier admitted in a post on her Facebook page that qualifying for Sochi was one of the toughest challenges of her career.

"I have dealt well with adversity in the past. But trying to return to form mid-season with few training days and none in race conditions is a first for me," Alcott said.

"All I hope is that I am given a chance to show my skills as part of the magnificent Team GB that will be named."

Dave Ryding is currently the only other British alpine skier to achieve the Olympic qualification standard.

Britain's best prospect of success on the slopes comes in the freestyle events.

Slopestyle skiers James Woods, Katie Summerhayes and Rowan Cheshire - plus snowboarders Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan - have all won World Cup medals ahead of Sochi.