WhatItTakes Our Athletes Journey
With the Winter Games fast approaching, we follow three of our Olympic hopefuls to find out #WHATITTAKES to achieve their dream.
Over the coming weeks we delve into the lives of these potential Olympians and give you exclusive access to their training, nutrition and much more. Find out more about our athletes below.
How can you show your support?
On average it takes an athlete 10 years – an incredible 3650 days - to train for the Olympics!
To show our support, Ellis Brigham aim to match this figure and will donate £1 towards our three athletes’ journeys (*up to £3650) for every share of the #WHATITTAKES message.
Athletes
Katie Summerhayes
Age: 22Home Mountain: Sheffield Ski Village
Event: Slopestyle
Katie started skiing at Sheffield Ski Village at the age of 6 and soon progressed into freestyle. Many hours of practice after school and at weekends helped her quickly develop her smooth style and impressive trick bag, competing in her first international competition aged 14. Since then she has gone to compete on the World Cup Tour; winning and medalling at numerous events.
At the last Winter Olympics in Sochi Katie qualified for the Slopestyle finals in 3rd place- finishing 7th overall in the main event. Going into these games she is on good form, recently coming 2nd at this year’s Stubai World Cup and looking for two more solid performances in her final competitions before the Olympics.
Peter Speight
Age: 25Home Mountain: Sheffield Ski Village
Event: Half Pipe
Peter grew up skiing with his family on holidays in Austria, however it wasn’t until he was a teenager that he was introduced to the world of freestyle at Sheffield Ski Village. He loved the atmosphere at the Village and began progressing at a fast rate. Throughout his teens he competed in competitions around Europe and when he finished his A-levels he decided to pursue halfpipe skiing full-time.
His hard work and commitment soon paid off, qualifying for the World Cup Tour and reaching finals. Unfortunately, Peter broke his collarbone in the run up to Sochi and was unable to compete at any qualifying events. Since then Peter has successfully qualified with a BA in History from Manchester University (while continuing to compete) and is now is focused on the remaining World Cup competitions before Pyeongchang.
Pamela Thorburn
Age: 31
Home Mountain: Cairngorms
Event: Ski Cross
Pam’s first experience skiing was the slopes of Austria, aged 3. Spurred on by her brother she always wanted to ski as fast as possible and beat him down the slope. She took full advantage of this competitiveness qualifying for the British Junior Ski team before making it into the Senior team at 16.
After mixed results in Alpine World Cup events she transitioned into ski cross in 2012. She took to the sport well - placing consistently in the top 30. Regrettably, Britain decided not to select any ski cross athletes for Sochi, depriving her of the chance to go to the games. Pam’s progress has been unfortunately hampered over the years by a series of injuries (13 major operations - including a broken neck and both hips) yet she remains more determined than ever to make it to the Winter Olympics.
Make sure to follow Ellis Brigham on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates and vids on #WHATITTAKES.