Rachelle Rogers talks about the YOG trials and the joy in being nominated for the team to go to Innsbruck…

After a couple of days training GS before the trials, the big day finally came. We were really lucky with the weather, it was sunny with a little bit of cloud cover, but this soon went away, leaving behind a clear blue sky. The slope was a flat to gentle gradient with grippy, but not icy, snow. We were all gathered in the start, and although there were smiles on our faces, you could sense the nerves in the air around us.

The first run didn't go so well for me, being the first actual race-scenario run of the year, my 'mental prep' was a bit rusty and I wasn't fully focused, consequently my technique went down the drain and I ended up doing several turns on my inside ski, nearly falling over a couple of times, so from an optimistic point of view, it was a good recovery exercise! After doing a run of really clean turns, Alice MacAulay took the lead, with me in 2nd and Katie Guest in 3rd.

The second and third runs went much better than the first, for me, I found the right mind set and my performance was technically good. I came down to win the 2nd run, but only 0.08 in front of Alice's first run time.

So the race was on for the final run and both of us were battling it out, Alice went down first and matched my 2nd run time, creating suspense for the spectators! I put in another technically good run and we all waited at the bottom of the run to find out the final result. Turns out I just beat her to it by 0.01!

I'd just like to say well done to Alice for putting in a great performance, much improved from when I last saw her ski back at the British and Scottish in April. It was such a close result between the two of us, that we provided a nail biting and highly suspense entertainment for the spectators!

I am really excited and happy to be shortlisted!! I really hope I make the final selection, as I am really looking forward to seeing the other BSS athletes, going from the other sports. I got a chance to meet them all on the BOA preparation camp for the WYOG at Loughborough, and it would be really nice to see them all again.

If I go, I hope to perform well at the Games and to make the most of the experience of a Olympic environment, as well as being given the opportunity to race against the top athletes my age of the countries competing.