British Skicross Team

Had you asked anyone in the street about ski cross just one week ago and the only response you could have expected to receive would have been a quizzical, blank look.

Oh, how these things change. Sunday 21st February 2010 will long be remembered as the day that ski cross – a sport which has grown from complete infancy in the mid-nineties thanks to a few guys just having some fun – announced itself to the world. And what an Olympic debut it was, right from the go. The very first heat of the men’s event was packed full of just about everything you could hope for in a ski cross race: close racing, skiers edge-to-edge in the air, and one of the biggest crashes the sport has seen for some time with Ted Piccard taking out the peerless Daron Rahlves on the final jump, leaving Eric Iljans to chase Michael Schmid over the line.

The women's race a few days later saw Great Britain's Sarah Sauvey take to the slopes. She had a tough race, making a few key mistakes to finish in 34th place - just missing out on qualification into the top 32 and the knockout rounds.

Speaking to The Portsmouth News (full story here), she said: 'The most disappointing thing is my training all week had been amazing, every run since my first run had been really good and that's the first run I didn't make the landings properly.

'I don't know if it was the nerves, but I was really hoping to qualify so I was disappointed with that run.'

However, she had some positives to take away as well:

'The whole Olympic experience has been amazing. I've really enjoyed being here. You work your whole sporting life to get here and it's bigger and better than you could imagine when you do get here.'

Canadian Ashleigh McIvor took the inaugural gold and Sauvey is now determined to continue to boost ski cross' popularity.

Having an athlete qualify at the first-ever Olympic Ski Cross event represents a real high-point in the history of British Ski Cross, and we are immensely proud of Sarah's achievements in GB colours.

Our congratulations to her, and here's hoping that she continues to improve on her excellent World Cup results so far this season.