Winter Olympics: Fractured wrist will not stop Ormerod going for gold

The 20-year-old Brighouse snowboarder is at her first Olympics, but there is plenty of expectation on her after her World Cup and X-Games medals in recent seasons, in both Olympic events, slopestyle and Big Air.

Ormerod had her first training session at the Phoenix Snow Park, the venue for the slopestyle event, on Wednesday, providing an opportunity to assess the course and work out her routine.

The dangers of her sport became clear once again as she suffered a minor fracture to her wrist which, she insists, will not prevent her from competing here.

Ormerod wrote on Instagram: “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 fractured a bone in her back in March 2017, but she made a rapid recovery and, rather than fear, her focus is on the rush from executing the acrobatic tricks.

“I didn’t let anything stop me coming to the Olympics,” Ormerod told Press Association Sport, before the injury was disclosed.

“Injuries happen. It’s so easy to get an injury. You just have to brush it off and get back on it.

“It is an extreme sport, so it can be quite scary sometimes, especially when you’re going over jumps as big as houses.

“You just have to put that fear to the back of your mind and just focus on the enjoyment and the good things, like the adrenaline.

“When you go over a jump it feels like you’re flying and you get this mad adrenaline rush.

“I just think about all the positives and don’t think about the negatives, because that’s when something bad might happen.”

Slopestyle qualification takes place on Sunday’s second day of the Games, with the final on Monday, while the Big Air event begins on February 19.