Brighouse's Ormerod on double medal mission

Yorkshire will be represented by a magnificent seven skiers and snowboarders at next month's Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Katie Ormerod is considered to be one of GBs best hopes for a medal in two events.Katie Ormerod is considered to be one of GBs best hopes for a medal in two events.
Katie Ormerod is considered to be one of GBs best hopes for a medal in two events.

They form part of the biggest ski and snowboard squad Britain has taken to a Winter Games in history, with 25 wearing the colours of Team GB.

One of Yorkshire’s biggest medal hopes is 20-year-old Brighouse snowboarder Katie Ormerod bidding for glory in two events, the snowboard slopestyle and the newest event on the Olympic programme, Big Air.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ormerod has shown impressive slopestyle form over the last two years including a bronze at the X-Games and four World Cup top-fives in slopestyle.

But it is in Big Air where Ormerod could make the biggest impact: in 10 World Cup competitions she has finished in the top 10 nine times and finished on the podium on five occasions, including victory in Moscow last year.

Sheffield’s Katie Summerhayes, 22, makes her second Olympic appearance after finishing seventh in the skiing slopestyle final four years ago in Sochi.

This year she has company in 20-year-old sister Molly, making her Games debut. Molly is the 2015 junior world champion and gained her first career World Cup top 10 in China late last year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Another Sheffielder expected to do well in PyeongChang is James Woods, 26, a four-time World Cup winner in ski slopestyle who finished fifth in Sochi despite a painful hip injury hampering his performance.

Bradford’s Jamie Nicholls, 24, has appeared on the slopestyle World Cup podium three times in the past two years, including victory in the Czech Republic in March 2016. Nicholls finished sixth in Sochi.

Two more debutants in PyeongChang are Halifax’s Tyler Harding, 21, in the skiing slopestyle, following a breakthrough season on the World Cup circuit which saw him earn his first top 10 in France in December.

In the skiing halfpipe, Peter Speight, 25, of Sheffield has been a steady improver over the course of the campaign, highlighted by his maiden World Cup final appearance in China in December when he finished fourth.