Medal hopeful Katie injured days before Olympic debut

WINTER Olympics snowboard star Katie Ormerod has been dealt a blow in her challenge for a medal.

Katie, from Brighouse, is one of Britain’s medal hopes at the South Korea Olympics, which begin tomorrow.

The 20-year-old is competing in two of the most extreme events – Slopestyle and Big Air.

But her preparations were dealt a blow yesterday after she broke her wrist during training on the slopes at the Phoenix Snow Park, Pyeongchang.

Despite the injury she has said her bid for double glory will go on.

Katie has been touted as a serious contender and is expected to take part in Slopestyle qualification on Sunday and make the final the following day.

The Big Air event begins on February 19.

Writing on social media, she said: “First training day and the course is awesome.

“Unfortunately I slipped off a rail and have a minor fracture to my wrist.

“I’m totally fine and looking forward to continuing to train and getting ready to compete on Sunday. Can’t wait.”

Ormerod’s preparations for her first Olympics have been less than smooth, having also suffered a broken vertebrae in her back last year.

She became the first Briton to win a World Cup Big Air gold in Moscow last year, while she took Slopestyle bronze at the 2017 X Games.

Slopestyle is a high adrenaline downhill obstacle course with supersize jumps, rails to slide on and gaps to clear, with competitors awarded scores for the difficulty of their tricks and jumps.

Big Air - making its Olympic debut sees competitors take on huge jumps to perform airborne spins and tricks, with the most dangerous flips attracting the most points.

Great Britain are sending their largest ever team to a Winter Olympics with 59 athletes selected in South Korea.

The games will be held between February 9 and 25 and Team GB are looking to beat a best-ever haul of four medals achieved in both 1924 and 2014.