Martin Bell, Downhill Racer (Bonus Episode #14)

Mar 15, 2021, 04:42 PM

In this Ski Podcast Special, we feature Martin Bell, who raced at downhill for Great Britain in the 1980s and 1990s.

His racing career took in 4 Winter Olympics, 160 World Cup races (with 7 top-ten results) and his 8th at Calgary in 1988 remains the best placing by a British male skier at the Olympics.

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  • Martin is now based in Vail, Colorado
  • In 1995 Martin took place in the Pro Downhill tour with Steve Lee
  • Previously Martin lived in Big Sky, Montana
  • Martin's daughter Reece is racing slalom for Team GB
  • Martin's younger brother is Graham Bell, who we've interviewed for the podcast several times before, most recently about his appearance in 'Dancing on Ice' (6:00)
  • Martin represented Team GB at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo 1984, Calgary 1988, Albertville 1992 and Lillehammer 1994 (9:30)
  • Check out Inception to see where Martin and Graham stayed for Calgary 
  • Martin and Graham appeared on The Wogan Show with David Vine before the Games
  • You can listen to our chat with Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards in Episodes 29 and 30
  • Martin learned to ski at Hillend in Edinburgh and at the Karl Fuchs Ski School (15:00)
  • At 14 he moved to Austria to Ski Gymnasium Stams, where he was joined by Emma Carrick-Anderson and Paul Hourmont
  • Martin shadowed Konrad Bartelski when he first joined the Alpine team
  • He regularly trained with Canadians such as Todd Brucker and Rob Reid
  • Martin's 11th in the Super G in Leukerbad in 1988 is the best result by a Brit in the discipline
  • We interviewed Dave Ryding previously on the podcast in Episode 54 and Episode 57 (25:00)
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70: The Inferno, Skiing in Afghanistan & Olympian Martin Bell
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