HE has been dubbed 'ski-ing's answer to Andy Murray' - and now Glasgow slalom ace Zak Vinter is heading to the world ski championships next month.

The 20-year-old, who honed his skills on the slopes of the Glasgow Ski Centre in Bellahouston Park, will be the only Scottish male making up Team GB at the tournament in Sweden.

The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2019 from February 5-11.

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His younger brother, Owen, 17, is also hoping to be named in the British ski-ing squad for the European Youth Olympics when the official announcement is made on January 30.

The siblings, from Newton Mearns in East Renfrewshire, are keen to fly the flag for Scotland in snow sports and are ultimately aiming to compete in the next Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.

However, their mother, Julie Vinter, is worried that the pair's dream will be dashed unless the family can drum up enough funds to cover the costs of training and competing.

Mrs Vinter, a ski instructor and manager at the Glasgow Ski Centre, said: "They are doing exceptionally well and they are on track to do well, but they do need financial support.

"We're already spending [thousands] supporting the pair of them through what they're doing, but every year it's going to end up being more and we've just not go the funds to keep that going long-term.

"It is really important we find someone willing to support them, whether in a big way or lots of smaller supporters. That is going to give us a hand.

"We're not saying we want someone to pay our bill every year - but if we don't get some help with that, then it's not sustainable. Then you end up with two kids giving up something because of finances, which is a common theme in many sports.

"We are putting every single penny we have into it, but we do need a bit of help."

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At the moment, Zak is in his first year of a four-year academic and sports scholarship at Montana University in the US.

The economics student, a former British children's ski champion who is now ranked third in the UK for slalom, is training alongside other world-class skiers in the highly competitive US university sports scene.

Outside of term-time, he will train and compete in Europe and Australia.

Mrs Vinter said: "It allows him to study at the same time as practising his sport at a high level, and because he got a scholarship it's not costing us what it would if he trained full time with the British team.

"The [university] team that he's with in America are really good. He's training with really low-point, world-ranked skiers.

"University sport over there is huge."

Meanwhile, Owen, who has just left Mearns Castle High School with five Highers - including four A grades - is in the middle of his first year of full time ski-ing in Austria with Ambition Academy.

He is currently ranked top in the UK for slalom in the under-18s category.

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In 2018, Izzy Atkin became the first Briton to win an Olympic skiing medal since Scots skier Alain Baxter won slalom bronze at the 2002 Games - only to be stripped of his medal later after failing a drugs test.

Now the Vinter brothers hope they can be the first Scots on the podium - and do for ski-ing what Andy and Jamie Murray have done for tennis.

Mrs Vinter said she hopes some Scottish businesses might want to back them, although official sponsorship is banned at university level competitions.

She said: "Dave Ryding, the number one British skier - he's got several sponsors who contribute financially to him every year and have done for years now.

"Dave is now in a position where he gets funding from GB sport which is amazing, but that was a long time coming. Zak is obviously a long way off that so he will need to find private support, as will his brother.

"Owen is doing incredibly well. He's 17 and points-wise, he's probably sitting in a better position that Zak was at the same age. So he is on track potentially to do really, really well. He can totally be sponsored.

"So you've basically got two young brothers who are doing exceptionally well and they are on track to do well, but they do need support."