Zoe Gillings

http://www.teamgb.com/athletes/zoe-gillings

Following six years of skiing Zoe turned her attention to snowboarding and competed in the British Snowboarding Championships at ten years of age.

At the age of 15 years Zoe competed at the European Youth Olympics in Finland, finishing in an impressive 6th position, then turning pro at 16 years Zoe spent two seasons in Canada.

Zoe's major breakthrough came in 2004 at the age of 19 when she took her first World Cup podium, finishing in 1st place at the South American World Cup. If World Cup Gold wasn't enough, Zoe then took Silver in the next World Cup competition securing her an overall ranking of World No 1 for the best part of the 2004/05 season. No other British athlete has ever won a podium finish at World Cup level in SBX.

Following Zoe's domination of World Cup SBX, she suffered a career threatening injury in 2005 shattering all the mid bones in her left foot. The doctor explained she would be lucky to walk again, never mind snowboard. Despite this and following 8 months intensive rehab, Zoe managed to strap on a snowboard in time for the 2006 Turin Olympics finishing in an impressive 15th place.

Over the next 4 years, despite challenging circumstances with regards to funding, Zoe fought her way back to the top of her sport, after her career threatening injury, with several World Cup podiums and a top World ranking of 5th. Zoe, having established herself as one of the UK's top Olympic snowsports athletes then secured the highest British snowsport finish at the 2010 Winter Olympic games in Vancouver finishing in 8th position.

References and Sources

• http://www.sochi2014.com/en/athlete-zoe-gillings