In fact, he gave my sister and I a really good incentive to get involved. If we achieved a good basic level, he told us, he and my mum Shirley would take my sister and I skiing on real snow!

By the age of eight, I was whizzing down the slopes at the French Alps resort of Samoëns like a natural – while my sister Joanna, two years my junior, stayed behind with our grandparents.

I loved it. I was always the first back on the lifts to go down again.

After being picked for the English Schools Team, I got into the England Ski team and took part in the English and British Championships.

In 2006 I was the overall winner at the British Junior Championships and after A levels and a year in the high intensity British Development Team, I was picked for the British Team as a senior.

I now train on snow from November to April then 12 to 15 weeks during the summer and I’m on a world class programme.

My best event is the slalom and giant slalom – I’m best at the technical events that require skiers to be faster and nimble – not the Super G where you need to be heavy.