Briefs 2-British skier Baxter to retire with a dram

April 2 (Reuters) - Sports news in brief from around the world.

Skiing - Alain Baxter, Britain's most successful alpine skier, announced on Thursday that he has retired from the sport after a series of injuries have prevented him from operating at his best level.

The 35-year-old Scot achieved 11 top 15 World Cup finishes but is best known for winning Britain's first Olympic alpine skiing medal when he took bronze in the 2002 slalom, only to have to hand it back after failing a dope test as the result of using a nasal inhaler.

Baxter will race his final slalom on Thursday at the British championships in France, when, dressed in a kilt, he will stop midway down the course to share a dram of whisky with British skiing's head coach.

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Soccer - Chelsea are to launch their own Twitter account on Thursday, the English Premier League club said in a statement.

The club said www.twitter.com/stamfordthelion will show a variety of micro-blogging content in the form of news, views and observations, from breaking news to day-to-day routine.

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Horse racing - Tony McCoy, seeking his first win in England's Grand National after 13 previous failures, will ride Butler's Cabin in Saturday's race at Aintree, Liverpool.