Eddie the Eagle's Olympic jump recreated in giant ice sculpture

The sculpture is the length of a double decker bus and carved out of 100 tonnes of snow

Two British snow sculptors going for gold in an international contest have modelled their latest creation on ski jumper Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards.

Yorkshiremen Justin Scott, 50, and Martin Sharp, 45, have turned 100 tonnes of the white stuff into a tribute to the plucky Winter Olympian.

The pair have spent a week building the sculpture in Austria's Tyrolean Alps.

They hope to fare better than their latest muse, who famously finished last in his event.

The duo have recreated Edward's famous bottom-ranked jump during the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.

Their artwork is the length of a double decker bus and features the Olympic rings and flame with Edwards depicted in mid-jump.

Mr Scott said Eddie "The Eagle" was "the only choice" for the competition, which this year has a winter sports theme.

"Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards came from a country with no snow, managed to compete in the Olympics and got the British world record," he said.

"We've got nowhere to practise. We've got no snow in England. We literally have two shovels with us. The rest of the teams have about eight to 10 sculpting poles with various blades of different shapes, so I think we are not doing bad."

The pair have spent the past week carving the artwork in the Austrian Tirol

The competition is being held in Ischgl in the Austrian Tirol, where snow ploughs were used to move the mounds into place before the sculptors got to work.

A winner will be decided on Saturday and the sculptures will remain until April.

Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards became one of the best-known athletes at the 1988 Winter Olympics

Edwards, Britain's first and most famous Olympic ski jumper, was working as a plasterer in Cheltenham when he qualified, entirely self-funded, for the Calgary Games.

Despite coming last in both the 70m and 90m events, he achieved worldwide fame, with his story turned into a 2016 film starring Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman.

Egerton also portrayed Elton John, the subject of the men's previous sculpture, in 2019's Rocketman.