GIVEN that she has spent her entire adult life competing in alpine sports, it’s safe to assume Emily Sarsfield is not afraid of tackling an uphill challenge.

Even so, as she prepares to head to Pyeongchang, the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics, for a World Cup event, the County Durham ski-cross star could be forgiven for wondering whether the daily dangers of one of the most perilous sports on the winter calendar, not to mention the financial sacrifices involved in continuing her career, are worth it. After all, it is not as though ski-cross has been particularly kind to the 32-year-old in the past.

Not only has she had to battle her way back from two potentially career-ending knee injuries, the first of which came as a result of a horrific high-speed crash that scuppered any chance of her competing at the 2010 Winter Games, she has also had to deal with the mental anguish of being denied a place on the British squad for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi despite achieving the qualifying standards required.

Sarsfield was offered a spot in Sochi by the International Skiing Federation, but British Ski and Snowboard refused to ratify her selection and even though she launched an appeal supported by a petition boasting almost 10,000 signatures, she was forced to watch on with intense frustration as her dream of Olympic competition disappeared.

Almost two years on, and she is rebuilding her career, having returned from her latest injury to finish in 22nd position at a recent World Cup event in Italy. Given everything she has been through in the past, though, wasn’t she tempted to reluctantly call it a day?

“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times when I was thinking like that,” said Sarsfield, who hails from Brancepeth, but now spends most of her time in Europe combining her sporting career with running a series of ski schools. “There were times where it seemed as though no one wanted to back you or support you, and it’s hard to get your head around that.

“But then there were people out there who were willing to speak up on my behalf and continue giving me their backing, and part of me carrying on competing is down to them.

“It’s not really about me proving people wrong any more – I’m past all that – but it is about knowing what I’m capable of and still wanting to strive to get back there and hopefully do even better.

“I’m competing now because I want to and I love it. From the moment I was able to take part in a full-on training session, I knew I’d made the right decision because it was just so great to get back on the slopes and do what I love doing again.

“My attitude is probably different this time around because I’m not fixated on World Championships or Olympics or anything like that. If I can get my performance level to where I want to it to be, things like that will fall into place. For me now, it’s more important to get as much enjoyment as I can and fit the competing around everything else I want to do.”

That said though, Sarsfield’s recent performance in Italy suggests she is more than capable of competing at the very highest level for the next two seasons and challenging for a place on the British team for the next Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

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Despite having only just returned to full training, the North-Easterner finished 22nd in her first competitive outing of the year, only missing out on a place in the final by four tenths of a second.

She will compete in the majority of the remaining World Cup events on this season’s calendar, with next month’s trip to Pyeongchang enabling her to compete in one of the test events on the course that will stage the next Olympic competition.

“You couldn’t do this unless you still wanted to be the best,” said Sarsfield. “You couldn’t throw yourself down the mountain, with the all the potential for bumps or crashes, unless you still had something inside you pushing you on.

“If I’m honest, I probably surprised myself with just how competitive I was in Italy. It was really only meant to be a stepping stone to the rest of the season, but with a little bit more luck, I might well have made the final.

“That showed me I’m not too far off where I want to be. It was 21 months since I last competed, but even though it was frustrating to have been off the slopes for so long, the plus side was that it meant I could put in a lot of work building up my body in the gym. I feel fitter and stronger now than ever before.”

Sarsfield has also begun to repair her relationship with British skiing’s governing body, and while she admits she will always be hurt by the decision that prevented her from competing in Sochi, she is determined to do all she can to ensure future generations do not suffer a similar fate.

“I guess we’ve agreed to settle our differences to a certain degree,” she said. “I’m never going to forget what happened, but I agreed to join British Ski and Snowboard’s athletes’ committee because I want to change things for the future.

“The work with my ski schools brings me into contact with a lot of really talented, ambitious young skiers, and I don’t want them to be going into a sport where I don’t think there’s a chance for them to develop.

“I’m happy enough to drive myself around the world and try to pick up funding where I can, but they shouldn’t have to. There were six Brits on the start line at the World Cup, and that’s something I didn’t think I would ever see. Seeing that made me as happy as anything I did in the competition.”