Ski cross hope Sarsfield ready for rollercoaster January

Emily Sarsfield will throw caution to the wind in busy January

By Gerard Meagher

BIG AIR, BIG MONTH: British ski cross number one Emily Sarsfield has a busy start to the new year (www.emilysarsfield.com)

Daredevil Emily Sarsfield is not one to shy away from challenges but Britain's No.1 ski cross star is gearing up for the most pivotal three weeks of her career.

The 25-year-old is due to compete in five World Cup competitions in 20 days, beginning in Les Contamines, France on January 10.

Sarsfield got her season under way with a 38th place finish in Oberndorf, Germany last weekend, but will barely have time to catch her breath before taking to the piste again.

The gruelling schedule will see her compete twice in France before heading to North America to compete twice in the USA and once in Canada.

But Sarsfield is determined to meet the challenge head on as she sinks her teeth into the most important season of her career to date, with Olympic qualification up for grabs.

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"I was quite content with my performance in last week's competition seeing as it was the first of the season," she said.

"With this being the Olympic qualification year the field has grown by about 50 per cent on last year and that made it difficult in Oberndorf.

"But having spent six months away from the sport it was fantastic to get back into it and I know I'm only going to improve as the season goes on.

"Obviously the goal is Olympic qualification which couldn't be more complicated. I will need to be in the top 30 in the world to meet the IOC standard but Snowsport GB are going to release some slighter tougher criteria.

"Ideally they would just get on and do it so we all know exactly what we have to do but so far that hasn't been the case.

"I just have to concentrate on improving my racing and let that take care of itself."

Skicross - which will make its Olympic debut in Vancouver - is based on the hugely popular snowboardcross and takes on a race format with four competitors speeding down the slopes.

The first two across the line continue to advance until the final four battle it out, providing International Olympic Committee with the sort of thrills and spills they were looking for in a bid to make the Winter Olympics appeal to a younger audience, honed on X-Game wipeouts on You Tube.

And Sarsfield, who has been crowned British champion for the last four years, is convinced the extreme sport will prove a hit at 2010 just as snowboardcross and BMX did at Turin 2006 and Beijing 2008 respectively.

"It is very much an extreme sport and it is great for the crowds watching," she added. "With alpine skiing once you've seen one person fly down the mountain you've seen them all but watching us race adds a whole new dimension.

"You've got to have a lot of guts to take part in this event and you have to be very competitive. It's a spectacular sport - you reach huge speeds as well as leaping into the air.

"You have to be a very good all round skier. If I didn't have my history as an alpine skier I would not be able to compete at this level of skicross."     

Sarsfield, who is 19th in the World Cup rankings, may never have given the helter-skelter event a try had her coach not, quite literally, given her a push at the World University Games.

The Durham-based star was all set to hang up her skis but was convinced to try her hand at skicross, came sixth in the competition and has not looked back since.

"My coach thought I might be quite good at it but I really did have to practically be dragged to the start line," she added.

"But I did pretty well in it and did well at the next race and everything has gone from there. It came at the ideal time for me so I was very fortunate in that sense."

She has certainly come a long way since then having cemented place as the best in Britain, as she closes in on a top ten world ranking and an Olympic debut.

And, if all goes well in the next few weeks, then fortune will very much favour the brave.