“Thomson Snowboarding is proud to sponsor the most promising young rider Britain has ever seen,” said company spokesperson Marion Telsnig, announcing the tour operator giant’s support for current world number one Snowboardcross Racer, 19 year old Zoë Gillings.

Zoë was born and brought up in the Isle of Man and started skiing when she was 4. The Manx island is not known for its snow, but fortunately her parents were both skiers, and had invested in house in a small hamlet just outside Albertville in the late-80s.

With a background of gymnastics and the opportunity to spend a decent amount of time in the Alps, this made all the difference. After being badgered by her elder brother Jon (himself a British champion in GS), at age 10 she made the switch to snowboarding. By 12 she embarrassed a few of the older competitors by coming 3rd overall in the 1998 British Championships in Saas Fee, and unsurprisingly ended up in the British Junior Team (the women’s champion that year was Lesley McKenna, then being sponsored by Thomson Ski & Snowboarding). Following that, Zoë dominated the youth category at the British champs, winning 37 consecutive events.

In such a young sport access to full time coaching was virtually impossible in Britain; so three years ago, when she was 16 years she decided to go to train full time in Canada with coach Craig Smith. She had met Craig briefly but knew no one in Canada – a big commitment for a young girl to make, living thousands of miles from home. But it’s this sort of decision that typifies Zoë’s willingness to do what it takes to succeed. Her team mates say of her: ‘She rides her board way too fast and has absolutely no fear of anything, yet she seems to be so relaxed and calm at the same time.’

In September 2004, after winning the competition in Chile, Zoë met the IOC standards set for the Olympic Winter Games in Turin 2006.

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