Becoming a top skier without mountains
“My motivation had been someday to show that someone from Britain could compete with the Austrians and the Swiss at their own game. … Because everybody said you can’t do it.” - Konrad Bartelski.
By Eva Stergiou
Born on the 27th of May 1954, the alpine ski racer Konrad Bartelski, who raced for the United Kingdom, got to know worldwide success. A lesser-known fact is that he was raised in the Netherlands and attended the English School of The Hague, now called the British School in The Netherlands in Voorschoten.
Konrad's father, Jan Bartelski, was a Polish pilot and during the Second World War succeeded in escaping the invasion of Poland. He fled to England where he joined the RAF (Royal Air Force). After the war, he moved to the Netherlands and worked as a pilot for KLM so, it was in the Netherlands where Konrad was raised. He attended the English school of The Hague from 1960 until 1972.
Jan Bartelski was a keen skier and every year he would take his family on a ski trip to Austria for one week. Gradually, people started to notice Konrad and in 1966 he took part in the Dutch National Under 18s at Neustift in Austria where he came second in the slalom at just the age of 12!
When he was 15, he went to Aviemore in Scotland and became the British Junior Men’s champion by winning the giant slalom. The English television sports presenter, David Vine, even said that if Konrad had been born into a skiing nation, he would perhaps have been the greatest skier of all time.
Konrad was not born or raised in a country that was historically known for skiing
However, Konrad was not born or raised in a country that was historically known for skiing, so he did not have the benefits of easy access to slopes, coaching or financial support. Luckily, he was noticed by the renowned Kandahar Ski Club based in Mürren, Switzerland which supported him in his early career. The English school of The Hague came to an agreement with his father that allowed for a more flexible timetable to help Konrad juggle school and his training schedule.
Just a few months before his final exams, 17-year-old Konrad took part in the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. Two years later, in 1974, he attended the World Championships at St Moritz, Switzerland. Unfortunately, during a downhill race at Megève in France, where the conditions were undesirable, Konrad had a terrible accident which left him unconscious. He recalled: “I was lying on the snow for about 45 minutes before the helicopter came to pick me up […] People weren’t sure if I was dead or alive.”
Sadly, after he left the hospital, he was told that he was probably never going to ski again, but his passion for the sport motivated him to work his way back up. At the beginning, he could not even remember how to ski, but on the 13th of December 1981 at the World Championship in Italy, his time to shine had finally come. He won second place and was only 0.11 of a second away from obtaining first!
He retired in 1983 and worked as a commentator and journalist. He made appearances in the commentary box for Ski Sunday on BBC TV and also worked for Sky TV.