Turney on the eve of her Paralympic debut
The waiting is over for city's Vancouver hopeful
Four years ago Anna Turney watched the Turin Olympics from a hospital bed - but after returning to the slopes the Olney skier has set her sights on making the Paralympic podium in Vancouver.
Training to make the British snowboarding team in 2006, Turney overshot a 30ft jump and shattered her lower spine leaving her unable to walk again.
The 30-year-old refused to throw in the towel on her snow sport career though and after bending the ear of world champion and Paralympic mono-skier Stacy Kohut forced her way into the British Disabled Ski Team.
And after battling to make the plane to Canada, Turney admits she's finally resting easy ahead of Friday's opening ceremony.
"It's exciting but it is also a big relief because I have put in so much work and lots of other people have put a lot of work in for me too," said Turney.
"I had been working on it for three years so I was desperate to get there. For me even being there is an achievement because I was in hospital watching the 2006 Olympic Games so it has come round very quickly to me going to the Paralympics in Vancouver.
"I always believed I had a chance of getting there and I put pressure on myself to do it a bit. You need self-belief and I had that and I picked it up quite quickly so I am confident."
Turney sealed her place in the squad by picking up a slalom silver at America's NorAm Cup in December before going on to claim bronze at the Europa Cup in Spain.
But despite returning to North America off the back of her winter medal rush, the former Oundle School pupil admits she'll have to dig even deeper if she's to bolster her trophy cabinet in Vancouver.
"I got a silver in the slalom at the start of the year in the NorAm in Colorado which was great," added Turney. "But I haven't performed as well as I would have liked in a few of the competitions leading up to the Paralympics.
"My training has been going really, really well, better than ever so I'm very pleased with that. I know I need to produce my training performances on a race day.
"My aims are to ski as fast as I can, as I'm sure everyone else will be, but you have to be in it to win it and I'll be giving it my all.
"I'm feeling pretty confident about it and my aim is just to treat it as a normal race and not get too freaked out about it. My fitness work has been very geared towards the Paralympics so I feel in great shape."
Lloyds TSB are a proud partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and supporter of ParalympicsGB on their journey to Vancouver 2010. Visit LloydsTSB.com/London2012
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Friday 25 May 2012
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