Jean Stanford

Downhill and slalom skier Jean Stanford enjoyed her most successful year in 1955 when she came third in the newly inaugurated Piz Nair Gold Cup at St. Moritz, raced on a course with a drop of over 1,000 metres. That same year she finished second in the classic Parsenn Derby at Davros.

Selection for the 1956 Cortina Winter Olympics followed and Stanford was one of the five members of the Great Britain women’s squad for the Games. Despite competing in both her events, the 43rd placing in the downhill was her best result. Stanford did, however, win the ladies downhill title at Val-d’Isère in Olympic year.

Stanford later set up Jean Stanford Skiing to promote skiing holidays to Megève in the French Alps. She sold the business in 1995, and it was incorporated as Jean Stanford Holidays Ltd. Between 1984-87 she was president of the Ladies’ Ski Club, the oldest Women’s Alpine Ski Club in the world, founded in 1923.