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Katie Ormerod could be forgiven for regarding the start of another Winter Olympic cycle with a serious sense of dread.
To call her luckless when it comes to her previous experience of the Games would be doing a disservice to the extraordinary obstacles that the 27-year-old Brighouse snowboarder has overcome in order to reach the start-line for Milan and Cortina in 2026.
It is testament to Ormerod’s tenacity and her desire to not let her lengthy career setbacks define her that when she opens her season at the Big Air World Cup in Chur, Switzerland tomorrow – her first chance to win Olympic qualifying points – she will do so adamant that she is in the shape of her life.
“I feel like I’m in the best head-space and the best snowboarder I’ve ever been,” Ormerod told the PA news agency.
“All I’m feeling for tomorrow is excited. I’m not putting any pressure on myself but I’m determined to take my opportunity. I’ve accomplished so much in my career but the Olympics still feels like that little bit that’s missing.”
Ormerod struggles to compute the number of snowboard-related operations she has endured in her career: eventually she determines that it currently stands at 13, swollen by four more arising from an infected ankle bone that ruled her out for 18 months in the wake of her return from Beijing in July 2022.
“Obviously I’m used to injuries but this one was different because I was just physically very sick, and I couldn’t figure one what was going on with me,” recalled Ormerod.
“I was in and out of A and E all the time and we didn’t find out it was a bone infection for a number of months. Eventually they cut a chunk of the bone out and put me on IV antibiotics for 10 days. It’s been one thing after another, but I’m through it all now and I’m feeling really strong and happy and positive.”
Ormerod’s hard luck story when it comes to the Olympics began on the eve of competition in Pyeongchang in 2018. Having gone to South Korea as a heavy favourite in the women’s slopestyle event, she came off a rail too early and split her right heel bone in half.
Launching a remarkable recovery from that potentially career-ending setback to win a Crystal Globe for overall World Cup champion in slopestyle within two years, Ormerod booked her place at her second Games, only to find herself parachuted into an unprecedented scenario in which Covid counter-measures sapped any of the enjoyment from what was supposed to be the crowning moment of her recovery process.
“I’m proud that it was my first time of officially becoming an Olympian, but people who know me know how much I struggled out there,” added Ormerod, who ranked a lowly 25th from 29 in the Big Air heats.
“It was in the middle of Covid times so it was weird and I found it isolating and quite stressful.
“I was staying away from my friends and even my coach wasn’t allowed in the Olympic Village with me. It was just not what I needed and it was really hard to cope mentally with that.
“To be honest I don’t even know what result I got in Beijing. I don’t think I ever looked. But four years prior to that I didn’t even think I’d be snowboarding again.
All I'm feeling for tomorrow is excited. I'm not putting any pressure on myself but I'm determined to take my opportunity. I've accomplished so much in my career but the Olympics still feels like that little bit that's missing— Katie Ormerod
“I had so many demons to overcome in Beijing. I stood at the top and it was a big mental game having to drop in again knowing the last time I was there my career was nearly over.
“I was immensely proud and even though I didn’t get the result I wanted, I proved to myself that I could do it.
“I came back and made my ultimate dream of becoming an Olympian a reality. But as soon as it was over I turned my attention to the next one.
“Now I get to go to Milan with no demons because I overcame them in Beijing. I can go there fit and healthy and focus on putting down a good run.”
