Val D'Isere - Women's Downhill Ski Sunday

If you can dream and not make dreams

your master, Eddie can think and not

make thoughts your aim, if you can

meet with triumph and disaster and

treat those two impostors just the

same...

If you can force your heart

and not to serve your torrent, long

after they had gone... And so hold

on when there is nothing in you,

except the will which says to man,

hold on. If you can fill the

unforgiving minute with 60 seconds

worth of distance run, yours is the

Earth and everything that's in it,

and, which is more, you will be a

woman, my love!

.Mac to Ski Sunday, we're back in

the French Alps.

The fastest women in the world

are preparing to race

on the iconic course.

It's a place with bitter-sweet

memories

for World Cup

legend Lindsey Vonn.

She's won here four times

in downhill, including

a World Championship

gold eight years ago.

But she's also suffered two

really bad crashes here,

and hasn't had a great

start to the season,

in Lake Louise in November

so the result in Val

is far from a foregone conclusion.

Later in the show, we hear

from another inspiring female racer,

Britain's very own Millie Knight,

who has high hopes of winning gold

at the Winter Paralympics next year.

Racing with a visual

impairment like Millie's

requires courage and skill.

I've made these goals which

replicate my vision, so he can have

a go.

Willie? Is that all that you

can see?

First, we've got the women's super G

and before the race Chemmy Alcott

went to catch up with Lindsey Vonn.

The American might have

broken almost every record

in the World Cup, but she's

as motivated as ever.

Are happy with how things are

progressing? I'm happy with the way

I'm skiing, but not happy with the

result. I'm on a good path, but

things haven't really gone, they

haven't come together. The first

race in Lake Louise, I was on my way

to probably winning the race and

then crashing, that derailed me a

bit. It took me a little bit to get

back on my feet, then I felt good

going in the Super G and I just feel

like I haven't been able to get my

confidence going.

The back injury,

that's anything?

I've never had a

back problem, my back is normally

great. The doctor said that my MRI

looked amazing. But it is good now

so I'm happy to be back.

I know that

your dad is here. How important is

that structure, that team around

you, to keep you focused and happy?

Is really important. You are on the

road for so many months, you need a

good team supporting you, especially

when things don't go well. My dad is

like my new hype man. It is nice to

have family here, they have been so

good to me.

Is that why the dogs are

there, because they love you no

matter what?

She is my travelling

companion. The road is long and

that's why I got there. It is nice

to have someone to come home too,

even if you're coming home a hotel

room.

Eating up the ground here,

beautiful turns from Lindsey Vonn.

I

like to keep my intensity high.

After crashing, my knee was pretty

strong, pretty unhappy with me, but

in general I normally don't back off

at all. I don't have an 80% or 90%.

I am always trying to win. I realise

that it's an Olympic year. I'm

trying to be saved, but I get insane

and they just want it.

The next

Olympic Games, going to Korea. It's

a track you've done really well on

last year.

I really like the course.

It really suits me, I can really

drive like in Colorado or it can be

very icy, depends how the snowmaking

is and how they prepare. They are

trying to build a little bit more

terrain into the course this summer.

We will see when we get there. But

in general it suits all of the

Americans very well and hopefully we

will have some good luck, there.

You

went out there, and you had the

opinion that you were out there to

represent the United States people

and not the president. How do you

not let this distraction of a

ringing you been through recently

not get you?

I've had a lot of

distractions in my life, this has

been a big one, definitely, but at

the same time I love my job, I'm

happy when I'm skiing, I can block

everything out and just focus on

skiing fast. That's one thing I'm

really good at. I might not be good

at anything else but I can

definitely block out the noise and

stay focused. Racing down the

mothers that suit you? I don't care,

as long as you raise, that is all I

care about. It has definitely been

an interesting season on the ski

site. It has been nice to see new

girls on the podium and it makes the

World Cup more interesting because

you don't then what is going to

happen, more so like the men's side

were any of the top 30 could win any

of the races. So it is more

exciting.

I'm really pleased to say

Chemmy's joined us.

By her standards, it has been

disappointing for Lindsey Vonn, just

one World Cup victory?

What is going

on? She needs to get confidence and

experience. And she has missed so

much of the last year through

injury, she just doesn't have that

right now. There are lots of other

young women who have been chasing

her for so long.

Now they have

caught up.

Lindsay is just nine of

the record of victories in the World

Cup. The you think that break it?

For me it depends how she performs

in the Olympics this year. If she

goes there are claims that gold

Medal reignite her Mojo, herself

believe that she can continue and

she can compete against the jungles,

despite her age.

For me, not so

sure. This could be the crux point

of year. -- these young girls.

Lindsey is in that crux point of her

career now, where she could go on to

the Olympics and win gold and then

beat the record, or this could be

it, this could be the twilight of

her career happening right now.

Who's going to push Lindsay today?

The list in Stian Skjerahaug at Tina

Weirather.

The result was a start

number race, if you got the good

start number you are likely to be

very wrong.

And Cornelia Huetter,

she has come back from injury well.

She won the downhill in Lake Louise

and she has won at the Super G in

the past.

Plenty of options. If we

knew what was good to happen it

would be boring. This is Super G, no

places the corrosion, no prizes for

half measures. The equation is

simple. The fastest women wince. --

wins.

Let's go and have a look at this

beast. They have lowered the start

the next to the restaurant, straight

out of the start and onto the

Meadows. You can see how much new

snow has fallen here. It is so

important to be like on the skis.

You have to make a good transition

into these corners. Approaching the

S into the forest, setting up for

this turn, hard onto right foot,

then a little shimmy back. This is

the crucial turn, left footer. Onto

the flat. You got to carry speedier,

as you approach the panel jump. Onto

the Tamil jump. Wrong direction,

there! And heading towards the

compression now. This is the

compression, because it squeezes you

into the hill, and there you have

got to wait and then come onto that

right ski, carrying the speed out of

the compression, insight of the

finish. Straight over this last

role, picking up speed now. A little

bit bumpy down here. I'm flying

towards the line. Ha! I got to say,

a really nice course to ski.

I got

the line completely wrong off all

the tunnel jump. I would not be

winning this race. A few more

challenges for you. Yes, but you've

got to be released moved to win on

this, you got to be on line and

aggressive, but you have to be

smooth in the ratios because of the

snow.

They have not been able to ice

this up.

It is not icy. On this

occasion it is all about letting the

skis run.

It is time for the woman

is Super G from Val d'Isere. Matt

Chilton has the commentary. Training

has to take place first, and a

volume of snow has stopped the

organiser preparing the full

downhill course so we have a sort

Super G course on the bottom half of

the mountain. High-speed tones

through alternating red and blue

control gates, and it will take just

over a minute to win it. Cornelia

Huetter in the start for

Out into the light snowfall,

talented racer, loves speed, has had

a great starter this season. Victory

in the first downhill of the tour,

as she was on the podium a year ago

in the d'Isere downhill, before

sustaining an injury that kept her

out of the rest of the season. It

has been a really good comeback.

Down into the forest at the foot of

the mountain. Up and over the tunnel

jump. The Triple A restaurant on the

left, lots of people on the terrace

watching this race unfold. Uphill

briefly onto the compression. That

big right footed turn towards the

bottom of the course. This has been

a near flawless run so far from the

Austrian. Typical visibility.

Feeling her way through parts of the

track. Late in the line, hard right

ski, and she goes right through the

middle of that control gate, and she

will be disqualified. Happy to have

finished in one piece.

The first run

for Cornelia Huetter, showing the

graph to stay focused at the end,

you can't not focus. She skied so

well and is straddled the second

last gate, straddled those lively

bumps and there was no coming back

from that.

Now Haehlen from

Switzerland. Sometimes she can be

guilty of pushing just a little too

wide. She had a good result year

ago, top ten, her best ever result

in Super G. She's a little late

finding the line, soft snow at the

side of the course, there. If you

get in that soft snow, it acts as a

handbrake. Cornelia Huetter has been

disqualified so all that Joanna

Haehlen has to do is finish and she

will be leading in Val D'isere. That

is a good, long, tough position. Up

and over the compression. Barely

moved out of the tap. She wraps the

ski poles around her body, to

improve her shape through the air.

96, through the bottom speed trap,

96 kilometres per hour, and now she

tucks into borderline, and Haehlen

sets the pace.

1:05.56, the time to

beat. She seemed to be a little bit

too aggressive on her skis, and she

had the outside knee wiggling in and

out, and that is not the quickest

way to be on this course, you have

to be smooth and consistent through

the donors. Next ago is Nicole

Schmidhofer, the three new lines

skiing and not just on snow, throw

in a climbing and mountain biking

and you get the impression that

Nicole is something of an adrenaline

junkie. Can she get her fix with a

victory on the piece today?

Next race, Nicole Schmidhofer.

Powerful start, two, three, four

stamps with the ski poles. Red and

blue control gates and she has

stayed in the temper my position

throughout. Now time to stand tall

for the technical parts of this

course. She has the lead at the 1st

intermediate. 14 hundredths of a 2nd

quicker than Joanna Halen, who leads

at the foot of the mountain. The

next sprint, 30.88, Schmidhofer will

be close. A little wide there. Flew

a lot longer in the air than she

would have wanted. Not the perfect

flight. She didn't lose too much

racing line. Up and over the

compression. Down towards the race

finish. The world Super G Champion,

she won the gold medal in this

discipline in St Mortiz last

February. 98.3. A little stumble,

but it's been a pretty solid run

from Nicole Schmidhofer, and should

leads the way! It was tight. She has

got it done by three hundredths.

Schmidhofer showing her experience.

One of these skiers who has done it

more than others is here. An

exciting skier. Super G is about

making the gate just than she did

that and picked up speed as she went

down the course.

Lindsey Vonn is

ready to race in Val D'Isere. A

course where she has had a lot of

success in the past, with multiple

World Cup wins here. She took two

gold medals which was used for the

World Championships in 2009, the

most successful ski racer of her

generation. 77 World Cup wins,

looking for number 78 today. Her

father Alan is here watching her

race. She has had a disappointing

start to this season. A couple of

crashes. Thankfully, she is kept

injury free. Of the tunnel jump,

beautiful flight, perfect control in

the air. The green light comes on

for the great Lindsey Vonn. 12

hundredths of a 2nd quicker than our

current leader Nicole Schmidhofer.

Up through the compression, a little

bit of inside ski action from the

American but she never lost control.

Surely Vonn will be well in front at

the next intermediate. Almost half a

2nd better than Nicole Schmidhofer!

A little stumble their from Lindsey

Vonn but she kept the speed up and

she's got the lead. A massive margin

in favour of Vonn by 0.60 seven. She

is back.

Yes, yes, yes!

A big lead

for Lindsey Vonn and a big smile at

the finish area but she went out the

start gate she looked very nervous.

The timing wasn't there but she

worked her way into the course. Then

there was a scare just before the

finish, Lindsey Vonn put her hand on

the snow and was almost pulled out

of the course but the core strength

and determination to fight above

line was brilliant.

In the start-up is Tina Weirather.

She has previous has been on podium

twice. Can Tina race with her

mother's touch and take victory

today?

Tina Weirather, wearing the red bib

that signifies that she is the

leader in the World Cup Super G

standings. She was victorious in the

opening Super G race of the tour at

Lake Louise in November. She was on

the podium last weekend in

Switzerland at St Mortiz, 3rd that

day. She is the defending World Cup

Super G Champion. She won that title

at the end of 2017. She is down!

Tina Weirather comes to an abrupt

stop. Hopefully she will be OK. It

looked fairly innocuous.

Really

uncharacteristic from Tina

Weirather, so confident at the

start, laying the skis over but she

didn't pull it off. Coming into the

forest, just got caught on the

inside and went down quite hard, hit

her head but she is up and fine.

Johanna Schnarf from Italy, number

eight, the veteran. 33 years old.

Has never won a World Cup race.

She's been getting close. Two decent

results at the start of the season.

Six Matt Lake Louise. On that big

right footed turn should put the

brakes off. She will have lost a

10th of a 2nd or possibly more as a

result of that little edge check.

30.90 six. 31.21 for Schnarf. That's

the difference, the quarter of a

2nd. Running well, good and fast

transition from edge to edge, uphill

briefly, stands on the right ski,

it's a bit of soft snow at the side

of the course and then gets towards

the final five or six dates. Within

half a 2nd of Lindsey Vonn's time.

Good speed as well for Johanna

Schnarf of Italy. Vonn's lead...

Johanna Schnarf good enough for 4th

place at the moment.

Ready to race 's Lara Gut. The Swiss

star is a World Cup veteran, making

her debut 12 years ago. Still only

28, Lara has plenty left in the

tank. She loves racing and training

and keeping her hips lose the Super

G turns by throwing shapes in the

warm up area. Will she danced to

victory today?

Lara Gut is racing in Val D'Isere.

Impressive start. I wonder if the

snow might be a little soft

underfoot for Lara Gut? Prefers it

when it is a little harder and more

I see on the World Cup racetracks.

100th of a 2nd behind Lindsey Vonn

at the 1st intermediate. A beautiful

turn for Lara Gut. Smooth, sweeping

right footed turn she dives down to

the base of the Meadows. Approaching

the tunnel jump now. Lindsey Vonn's

time of 31.90 six. Lara Gut not too

far away. Just returning from

injury, getting the confidence back

after she ruptured her anterior

cruciate ligament at the World

Championships in St Mortiz, not

before she had taken a medal in the

Super G. She has had a good start to

the season. 2nd in the Lake Louise

race, the 1st Super G of the season.

98.09 kilometres an hour for Lara

Gut. Just over half a 2nd down. The

soft snow certainly not her friend

this morning here in Val D'Isere. A

full 2nd off the pace and 6th.

Lara Gut, normally so aggressive on

her skis. I think today she tried to

be relaxed and let the skis flow but

what I did is brought her shoulders

up, and so she was almost too

passive and catching too much wind

with her body. That's what really

cost her the time.

The best chance for France, Tessa

Worley. Double world champion in

Cheval, getting better all the time

in Super G. Let's see what she can

produce. She comes not too far away

from here. A big fan club gathered

at the foot of the mountain. What a

start for Tessa Worley. But then she

makes a massive mistake, gets

strapped backwards by the soft snow

at the side of the

powder slowing her down. She is in

trouble on the tunnel jump, what a

recovery! A little bit of aerial

ballet there from the French skier.

Lee Johnston get near the leader's

time has gone, but she's done well

to stay on the track here. -- a

chance to get near the leader's time

has gone. We will check her time now

was that she will be more than a 2nd

down on Lindsey Vonn here. 1.7 one.

All the speed has been wiped away

with the spectacular recovery on the

tunnel jump. Tessa Worley comes home

and dry and 11th position.

So the

crowd really getting behind Tessa

Worley, who skied fantastically. She

has good form here, she has won on

this hill. She charged and then make

some really rocky mistakes, going

off that tunnel jump, twisting and

managing to pull that core strength

and pull it off but losing too much

speed.

Sofia Goggia from Italy. An

exciting race. Always some fireworks

when Goggia attacks these World Cup

courses. Often running in Val

D'Isere. Aggressive start. Low and

focused. Now she stands tall briefly

for these more technical turns. Not

far behind Lindsey Vonn at that

intermediate, 16 hundredths of a 2nd

off the pace. Goggia goes between

the trees, where there is a little

more definition. Visibility just

slightly improved on this part of

the course on the tunnel jump, where

Tesak Worley had her shaky moment.

Goggia comes through unscathed. This

is fast and accurate, solid skiing

from the Italian. She was at the

World Championships last year in the

giant slalom and just missed the

podium in the downhill, 4th. She is

one to watch at the Olympic Winter

games. She was the winner of the

Olympic test event in the Super G in

Pyeongchang last March, love for

Olympic course. How will she fare in

Val D'Isere? Pretty close, good

enough for 2nd. Excellent run again

for Goggia.

So despite not having the results

this season in Super G, you can

never write off Goggia, she's a

firecracker to watch, always

exciting. She laid it over, had the

confidence to make big angles and

they paid off. She goes into 2nd.

Ragnhild Mowinckel from Norway. The

Norwegians have plenty of good

skiers. Ragnhild Mowinckel the only

serious contender in downhill and

Super G. That's how she deals with

this Val D'Isere Super G today. She

has been making good progress in the

early part of the season, with the

regular top ten finishes. She's got

all the support of the well funded

Norwegian ski Federation behind her.

She has made a really positive start

here. 100th of a 2nd quicker than

Lindsey Vonn at the 1st split. She

is right in that, 12 hundredths of a

2nd off the pace. A slightly

off-kilter landing as she exits the

tunnel jump. She now goes uphill and

over the compression. Mowinckel's

speed has remained intact. Looking

for her first-ever World Cup podium

finish, and she's in the hunt. Just

under 100 kilometres through the

speed gap. Ragnhild Mowinckel of

Norway, looking to really kick-start

her season. She is into 3rd.

Excellent skiing.

Really strong

skiing from Ragnhild Mowinckel and

it's proving it still can be done on

this course. I think Lindsey is

starting to get a little nervous in

the winner's seat at the finish. The

weather is improving slightly, as

well. Ready to go is Viktoria

Rebensburg.

She is a multiple winner in giant

slalom but has taken depressing

results in speed events in recent

years. Off the track, her passion is

cycling and football. Can she take

World Cup victory for Germany today?

Viktoria Rebensburg were ready to

go. Standing tall in the start

heart. An aggressive push out of the

gate and away. A good start to the

season in giant slalom, two wins.

She has been in the top six in Super

G as well. Could be one to watch

today, Rebensberg. She's made a

dynamic start. Five hundredths of a

2nd faster than Lindsey Vonn, who is

watching at the foot of the

mountain. Vonn hoping today will

bring her World Cup win number 78

and the 1st of her season.

Rebensberg was flying and then

jammed the skis sideways and will

have lost all of that leader as a

result. Just the slightest mistake.

Fine margins in this sport. She was

for hundredths of a 2nd ahead at the

2nd intermediate. She will be behind

at the next. It is 54.73 for Vonn

and 55.24 for Rebensberg. The

difference of just over half a 2nd.

Rebensberg stands hard on that right

foot, tucks in for the line. One

mistake of cost her the chance, she

is 7th.

Rebensberg starting off so

promising with the green light,

through it all away with one late

turn of the tunnel jump and there is

note coming back from that.

Another

World Cup win for Lindsey Vonn as

she closes in on the record of 86,

held by the great Ingemar Stenmark.

When we spent

held by the great Ingemar Stenmark.

When we spent this league said you

are happy with your performance but

the result wasn't there to stop what

was different today?

I just tried to

attack, tried to be in a solid

position. I definitely got through

the gates to the finish happy with

how I skied.

Did you realise how

close you were on the 2nd last date?

I was thinking, dude, don't crash

right before the finish, you idiot!

I feel so good to be at the top of

the podium and to get my confidence

back up and get the ball rolling for

the rest of the season.

In Italy, the big star of the men's

World Cup tour axle took his 2nd

downhill win of the season.

Meanwhile, in the absence of Lindsey

Vonn, Olympic Super G 's champion

Anna Viper took victory earlier

today in the week and's 2nd Super G

from Val D'Isere. In cross-country

skiing, Great Britain's Andrew

Musgrave celebrated the best result

of his career, winning bronze in the

15 kilometres freestyle World Cup in

Italy.

Great Britain's Issey Atkin, and her

team-mate James was finished seventh

in the men's competition.

In

freestyle Arial, Britain's Lloyd

Wallace made his return to World Cup

competition in China, just four

months after a training injury was

left him in an induced coma. He

finished in an encouraging 19th

position.

finished in an encouraging 19th

position.

With 28 in just around the

corner, attention is inevitably

turning towards events in Korea. --

2018.

Team GB are hoping for their most

successful Winter Olympics ever,

and they're just as ambitious

at Paralympics GB, with a number

of medal contenders on snow.

Graham's been to Saas Fee

in Switzerland to meet one

of them, Millie Knight.

When you are ski racing, your senses

are super heightened, you feel every

bump underneath your skis, and your

eyes pick up cambers and gradients

and adjust to like conditions

quicker than any camera good. Your

brain then processes that

information and makes lightning fast

decisions to make you fast and keep

you safe. I really can't fathom how

you can race with visual impairment,

but Millie Knight does just that and

does it brilliantly. Tell me about

your disability and how you develop.

I lost my sight in my right eye when

I was one, then I lost again in my

left eye when I was six, and since

then I have been left with just

peripheral site, the majority in my

left eye, I can only see light in my

right eye, and it is about two

metres, after that it is unclear.

When did you learn to ski with all

of that? I lost my sight when I was

six, then my mum decided it would be

a fantastic idea to go skiing, which

it turns out was a fantastic idea,

and that is where the journey

started. My mum was my first guide

and I knew from the moment I got my

skis on that this was my passion,

something I really wanted to do.

Tell me about your selection process

for Sochi.

I got a phone call my

15th birthday to say I had been

selected for the Paralympics, which

is the most crazy thing because I

wasn't expecting it at all. When you

meant to Sochi you within carrying

the flag. Yes, that was absolutely

amazing. I got called into the

office and told that I was going to

be carrying the flag. Prior to that

I thought I was in trouble and that

I was going to be told of this

meeting, but no, it was absolutely

fantastic. Walking out into the

stadium with 50,000 people

screaming, it's something you cannot

really re-enact. I had no pressure

on me. It was purely for the

experience that I went, but the

experience that I gained from that

is so important and has set me up

really well for, hopefully, if I get

selected next year.

Selection is

vital, if you can see it, but if

you're visually impaired it is even

more important.

It is the time when

we sweep through what Brett is going

to say so that there are no secrets

or surprises.

You are looking at the

course, you're going to tell Millie

what you're going to say at that

point. How much do you have to

memorise the course?

I memorise more

of the rain and promised that Brett

is going to give me.

Brett was a

promising ski race with the Scottish

junior squad but he had embarked a

career as a sub Mariner with the

Royal Navy and the offer to guide

Millie came out of the blue.

I had

been given five weeks to race at the

Milijovejic then I got a text course

to do a trial with a visually

impaired skier, and I had to respond

asking what it was, I didn't even

have a clue.

A big push... The first

time I met him he asked so many

questions. And that the me was

fantastic that he really wanted to

get it right. And that commitment

that he had was the thing that I

really liked.

Coming through, little

bit bumpy, stand strong, stand on,

stand on.

You need to have complete

trust in Brett.

I need to know that

he knows the course, he knows the

fastest line, but he also has to

take me down safely.

Turn, turn...

You have to be clear and confident

at all times so I believe my Royal

Navy training on communications on

the submarine is one of the biggest

things that help, if I am not clear

and confident to Millie she's not

going to trust me and commit 100%.

I

need to know that if he told me to

do something at 90 miles an hour, I

need to know that that's the right

thing.

You need to repeat that

outside, then you repeat on the

outside ski.

Is it important to get

on with your guide off the slopes,

is not just a kind of 9-to-5 job?

It

is very much my 9-to-5 job. It is so

important to get on, off the snow.

We do everything together. Even when

we are at home and not even on a

camp I am talking to him daily.

Me

and my girlfriend Claire would go

down and spend the week in London

with Millie, we have gone down for a

couple of concerts, and it makes it

a lot easier when you are spending

so much time together that it is

your friend.

That's really nice that

I can have Brett as a professional

partnership but also as a really

good friend.

You go out of the gate,

what do you see when you are doing

the downhill?

So, the distance

between me and Brett on the downhill

is probably five metres away. Which

is a little bit further than my

site, so on a downhill, I rely

pretty much solely on the audio

feedback that I get from Brett. I

try to follow the orange blur as

much as possible!

You get his orange

jacket, do you see the blue marks on

the side of the course?

The gates?

Possibly the gates, as they whizz

past. Depending on how close I am. I

have made these goggles that

replicate my vision.

Would you like

to have a go? I can see that that is

a very high-tech.

It is basically

just duct tape.

Just gaffer tape

across your site.

Is that all you

can see? It is mainly peripheral

vision. I put my head down a little

bit because I can see out of the

tops of my eyes a little bit better.

That little gap, their? Let's have a

go. I'm going to have a go down the

course.

What do I need from you? I

am shouting, if you just shout the

back to me, yes, yes, even to see

outcome of.

I am all new, aunt,

all... Then I can't see any more,

I'm off! To be honest I could barely

see Brett. The top of the course was

fairly flat but then making

confident tones was difficult

because I was so uncertain of where

I was and what was coming next. I

was already well out of my comfort

zone when we hit the steep.

Go!

Wow!

Total respect. Would you like these

goggles back? Very much so. At one

stage I might as well have been

blind, I could just about hear

Brett, I couldn't see it. Did you

see me go straight through one of

the gates?

It has been filmed so she

will be able to watch it!

You will

see it, I go straight through one of

them. Putting myself in the skis of

Millie made me have an appreciation

of how in June she is with Brett and

how well they have worked together.

We didn't have many goals for the

World Championships, we just wanted

to do well, and a gold would be

lovely, and I was in a great mental

place for the downhill, and in the

end we skied really well. I actually

crashed at the bottom of the

downhill run. So that wasn't great.

It is getting her down competitively

but safely first, so when she did

crash, it was horrible. I can

remember hearing the screams and I

knew straightaway that it was bad,

then she got stuck underneath the

kind of blow-up fence.

I did feel

extremely guilty. It has taken me

four monster get over the

concussion. It does not your

confidence and you do is start the

question, well, is this safe?

Do you

work with a sports psychologist?

Yes. And what are you working on?

Regaining trust and confidence in

myself. Our performance is very much

psychological. On race day it comes

down to 80% psychological and 20%

actual ability, because your mental

mindset is what allows you to do

what you do.

It's about releasing

that mental handbrake.

Very much so,

just letting go of what you think

could be dangerous, you've just got

to go. I train every day with the

goal of winning gold. And that's

what really motivates me, to do

that, that one more rep in the gym.

You imagine it winning the gold,

what would it be like to win

Paralympic gold?

Talking about it

gives me butterflies. I started

skiing when I was six years old, and

ever since that moment I thought, I

love to do this on a competitive

level, and I want to win gold at

whatever it is I'm doing, and there

have been a lot of people on my

journey so far that have helped me

get to the stage that I'm at, and I

think, to win gold, it will do it

justice of the help that I've had,

and hopefully make a lot of people

proud.

We're almost at the end of

the show. We have time for Ski

Social. Thanks to that enormous dump

of snow across the UK, you have not

disappointed and you have been

sending in your pictures this week.

And a certain Lotte Bell got

involved.

Sue could not find any

skis, so she made do with a couple

of sledges on ice. Nice! And after

the ski fashion fails last week you

guys have been sending them in. No

shortage of rightly coloured onesies

worn without a hint of irony!

We

have a question here, the first one

is quite apt, Nicola Coles wants to

to know what other best lens to wear

and a white out.

I have prepared

this one earlier, Blue Peter style.

Lens shades have changed hugely,

bright yellow drawers and old alike,

they go dark until they are almost

dark grey. This one is very clever.

This is a transition lens. It is new

technology. I have covered up this

side, when it is hunting for like it

is very bright, and where it has

been exposed to the light, it is

very dark, so get yourself down to

the local ski or snowboard shop,

check out the technology and see

what works for you. Helen, her

eight-year-old asked how fast the

skiers go when they are racing

slalom?

Is the slowest of the

disciplines but it is 30 miles an

hour with a turn every second and

that increases through Giant Slalom

and Super-G, up after downhill, and

the top speed in downhill is 100

miles an hour. Sadly, that is all we

have got time for this week. We will

be back in the New Year, when the

World Cup Classics season kicks in.

And it is impossible to ignore it

any longer, the wedeln pics are just

around the corner and there is an

event that has given us a little bit

of everything over the years. -- the

Winter Olympics.

The Tomahawk is already going, and

he has won a gold medal.

Oh,

goodness me, he has gone down!

Skiing for the gold medal. She is

dead level.

She has just taken

Britain's first Olympic medal on

snow.