TWO Cirencester brothers flourished in the British National Freestyle Skiing Championships in France last month.

Fourteen-year-old Felix Klein and his brother Jasper, 13 – both pupils at Cirencester Deer Park School – competed in the U16 category of the BRITS in the French ski resort of Tignes alongside the best of British skiing.

The competition ran across four days, covering four different disciplines – downhill, ‘slopestyle’, half pipe and ‘rail jam’ – testing all aspects of freestyle skiing.

Their best results came in the highly competitive half pipe competition where Felix won gold and Jasper shared a spot on the podium with silver.

Felix also collected bronze in the slopestyle and silver in the rail jam, with Jasper finishing fifth in both disciplines.

Felix’s performances were good enough to secure him a bronze medal in the open age grade overall competition behind Winter Olympian Murray Buchan, an astonishing result for such a young competitor.

Felix’s consistency across the competition means he can rightfully lay claim to the accolade of Britain’s best overall U16 freestyle skier, although this is not officially recognised.

The pair were encouraged to enter after being spotted by a skier at the Milton Keynes indoor ski centre.

“The boys decided to enter at the very last moment,” said their father, Andre Klein. “While they were skiing at Milton Keynes someone came over and said you should look at entering the championships; so they made the decision there and then.”

The boys grew up in New Zealand and have skied since the age of six.

“It’s a really popular sport in New Zealand,” Andre explained.

“They know and have been inspired by some top skiers out there including British champion James Woods.

“Both boys are incredibly self-motivated when it comes to their skiing.

“Felix is determined to keep getting good results and will hopefully catch the eye of the Olympic selection committee and earn a spot on the Olympic team.

“If he keeps going the way he’s going there’s no reason he can’t achieve his dreams of competing in the Winter Olympics of 2018.

“They’re going back to New Zealand for the ski season this year and have got a world class coach there.

“They’ll compete in high grade events over the next few months, so they’ll just keep working towards it with a view to moving back to the UK next year.”