Full Name Jan-Michael, Peter, Kochalski	Home Town Torphins, Aberdeenshire
D.O.B. 18/01/86	Place of Birth Exeter, Devon
Ski Clubs Gordon Skiers & Scottish Ski Club
Skis/Boots	Bindings

Jan grew up in Stavanger, Norway where he learnt to ski at the age of 2 before moving to the North East of Scotland at the age of 5. At the age of 7 he began training with Gordon Skiers both at Alford Dry Ski Slope and at the Lecht Ski Centre.

Prior to being selected for the British Team Jan trained with the Scottish Alpine Ski Team in the British Combined Nations Programme. In 2005 Jan was the only skier to receive the Champions and Challengers bursary from Atos Origin, this award gives him assistance with his expenses up to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Throughout his career he has received support from Aberdeenshire Sports Council. In 2008 Poyry Energy became a sponsor and both Jan and Poyry look forward to a long and successful relationship.

The 2009/10 season will be Jan’s sixth year on the British Land Alpine Ski Team. This is the beginning of Jan’s eighth year skiing and training full time in Europe.

The 2008/09 season was problematic to say the least. It started badly with a crash in Canada during a Downhill which resulted in a broken hand and ended with a major accident during a Europa Cup Downhill in Les Orres in France. This crash saw me landing on my ski which sliced through my thigh muscles cutting through to the bone. Following an emergency evacuation from the course I ended up in Hospital undergoing an emergency operation putting my thigh muscles back together. This ruined my World Championship debut scheduled for the following week. This setback is now fully behind me both physically and mentally and I am now more determined than ever to make my goal which is to be on the Olympic Team for Vancouver in February 2010. This will be a stepping stone on my road to the big picture goal of Russia and the 2014 Olympics.

Ultimately Jan would like to consistently score top ten results on the World Cup circuit, if he is able to do that he knows that anything can happen.

Interests
Playing golf, spending time with friends and sleeping!

Favourite music
Nothing specific (different music for different times)

Favourite food
Mum’s home cooking especially mince and tatties

Favourite thing about ski racing
The feeling you get when you do well in a race

Dislikes
Having bad days training or racing.