Alpine Skier Anchal Thakur

The first Indian skier to win an international medal, Anchal Thakur, hails from Manali.

Aanchal comes from a family of skiers – her father, Roshan Thakur, is a former national-level champion and her brother, Himanshu Thakur, has participated in the Olympics.

Aanchal participated in the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2013, and she was one of the two women participants from India in this event organised at Schladming, Austria. In 2015, she participated in the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2015 held in Colorado, US. Aanchal was a member of the twenty-two membered Indian squad that participated in the 8th Asian Winter Games in 2017.

She created history in 2018, after becoming the first Indian to win a medal in an international skiing event. She bagged the bronze medal in Giant Slalom discipline of alpine skiing at the Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup, which was held in Turkey. In 2021, she won bronze at the FIS Alpine Ski Competition 2021 held in Montenegro.

In 2022, Anchal bagged four silver medals at the UAE Alpine Slalom Championships held in 2022.

Presently, she is employed as instructor in Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Manali, and is preparing for the 2026 Winter Olympics.