Sit-skiing’s Anna Turney, pushing for a podium place
Undeterred after shattering her spine during an event in 2006, Anna Turney made ParalympicsGB’s skiing team at Vancouver in 2010. At Sochi she hopes her experience will propel her to a podium place.
34-year-old Anna Turney grew up snowboarding and always dreamed of representing Great Britain in the sport, writes Becky Horsbrugh. However, in 2006 disaster struck when she shattered her spine when she misjudged a jump at an event in Japan.
Despite being left paralysed from the waist down, Turney was not deterred from the slopes. While in hospital she was inspired by the 2006 Paralympic Games in Turin, and just a year later she was back on the snow and took up sit-skiing.
She joined the British disabled ski team’s development squad the same year and made her GB debut at the NORAM races in Canada in 2008.
This is her second Paralympic Winter Games. She finished sixth in the slalom in Vancouver and narrowly missed out on a medal at the 2011 World Championships in Italy, finishing fourth in the giant slalom.
The Warwick skier has been in great form this season, with top-three finishes in Canada, USA and Austria, and is ranked in the top eight for all five alpine ski disciplines. Turney is the oldest member of the British squad and is hoping her experience will help her secure that all-important podium place at the games.
In action
8 March: downhill
10 March: super-G
14 March: slalom
16 March: giant slalom
Becky Horsbrugh is a producer with Channel 4 News