Katie Ormerod will have to push herself to her absolute limits to be in with a chance of Winter Olympic gold — but she has it in her to do just that.
That’s according to BBC presenter and snowboard expert Ed Leigh, who reckons New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and American Jamie Anderson will be the pair to beat as they slide into action in the early hours of February 5 in the women’s snowboard Slopestyle qualifying runs.
Ormerod, from Brighouse in West Yorkshire, was forced out of the last Winter Olympics after suffering a career-threatening heel injury shortly before competing.
And Leigh said: “A gold would be a giant ask, a big, big stretch for Katie.
“It’s not beyond her. But the two years she had out and seven surgeries she had meant that in the key phase of progression for women’s Slopestyle and Big Air riding, she was recovering.
“It’s a testament to her fundamentals and the British programme that at her first contest back she came third.
“So she’s definitely in the mix for a medal but it will take a big performance from her.
“The two who will fight it out for gold almost undoubtedly will be Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Jamie Anderson, who is clinging to her dominance of the women’s Slopestyle scene by her fingernails.
“She has both of the women’s Slopestyle golds from before, in Sochi and Pyeongchang, but her powers are dimming and even for her it’s going to be a big ask.
“There’s also Kokomo Murase and Reira Iwabuchi from Japan, who are also pushing really hard.
“Katie has some very strong talents that she is going to go up against, so it will be naive to think she will prevail, but if she rides at her very best then she will 100 per cent be in the mix.”
The fact Ormerod and TeamGB are coming into the Games with medal hopes shows how far Britain has come in the last 20 years, and Leigh believes the most exciting prospect out there is a 15-year-old who hails from its shores.
He added: “Twenty years ago was just before Jenny Jones turned up and before that there were some good British riders, snowboarders and free-skiers, but they could never mix it on the world stage, they were just on the fringes.
“And then Jenny turned up and, on her own, became proof that a British snowboarder with talent and the ability to do the work and make the sacrifices could beat one of the best in the world.
“She got two X Games medals and utterly dominated women’s snowboarding.
"She was the vanguard of progression and that has led the athletes we’ve seen coming in hard behind her.
“Now we’re meddling regularly — Billy Morgan, Izzy Atkin…
“This cycle we’re looking at Zoe Atkin, Kirsty Muir and Katie Ormerod, who are all very, very talented.
“And then for the next cycle we have Mia Brookes, who is without question the most exciting young female snowboarder in the world right now.
“No exaggeration whatsoever.
“By Milan, she will be the woman to beat, barring some kind of catastrophe.
“She’s as good as any of the women on the rails but she just doesn’t have the bodyweight yet to compete on the big jumps.”
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