Winter Olympics: Summerhayes out to recapture top form in PyeongChang

Injuries may have hampered her preparations for PyeongChang 2018 but karaoke queen Katie Summerhayes is confident she can hit the right note on the slopes.

One half of the Summerhayes sister double act over in South Korea, the 22-year-old takes centre stage tomorrow for the women’s skiing slopestyle competition.

She does so having hardly been down a slopestyle course this year after injuring ankle ligaments prior to Christmas.

But the Sheffield skier, Britain’s first-ever female World Championship medallist in 2015, is hoping positive memories of the Games test event in 2016, where she finished sixth overall, will help her rediscover top form.

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“I’m excited to get going, it feels like it’s been a long build up,” she said.

“I’ve had a really tough four years, especially with the mental side of things. I didn’t have a very good run for about two years in competitions and I had about a year of coming last in competitions.

“Then I came here for the test event and that’s when I qualified second and came sixth. That was a bit of a turnaround moment.

“It’s going to be very different for me at the Games as I wouldn’t have skied for two months.

“Before the last Olympics, I did my ACL which wasn’t too good either. And then this time around I’d not been injured for four years and then did my ankle.

“It’s hard but I’ve spent so much time being upset about things I can’t control.”

Summerhayes has been working closely with a psychologist and claims talking to someone removed from the sport can prove advantageous.

She is also joined by her sister Molly – who is making her Games debut in the halfpipe on Monday – while the close-knit nature of the freestyle skiing scene means distractions are always at hand if needed, including that of karaoke singing.

“I love it here in South Korea and I love the karaoke,” she added.

“Last time there was a bar in the hotel we stayed in and we were there every night. My song of choice is Total Eclipse of the Heart whereas Molly would probably go for a bit of Adele.

“Me and all the slopestyle girls, this is when we all became really good friends at the test event.

“We were obviously friends as we’ve skied together and travelled the world but it was when all of us became best mates. All the girls from every different country.

“That’s just our sport. I want to do well myself but I also want them to do well too.”

Regardless of results, Summerhayes has promised to find a karaoke bar post competition. And you can imagine she will be inviting a good few friends along to join her with her Bonnie Tyler impression.

Watch Katie Summerhayes in action in the women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle on Saturday at 1am on Eurosport 2. Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games on Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Go to www.Eurosport.co.uk