Winter Olympics: Greater Manchester skier targeting a spot on the slopes in Beijing

When a young Daisi Daniels won a competition to try skiing at the Chill Factore in Manchester, she perhaps did not realise that the chance encounter would send her on a career path which could see her competing at next year’s Winter Olympics.

The teen ski sensation, who was born and went to school in Rochdale, is targeting a spot in Beijing.

Daniels, who has been dubbed one of the UK’s brightest young skiing talents, certainly doesn’t lack the commitment and drive needed to become a regular for Team GB in the future.

During her time at school, Daniels balanced swimming, basketball, netball and gymnastics with her ski training but is now fully focused on achieving her goals on the snow.

What has she said about her Winter Olympics dream?

Daniels says making it to the top of her sport has required sacrifices compared to the lives of other teenagers but being in the elite environment does provide compensation for that.

The 19-year-old said: “I don’t have too much of a social life but you’ve got to make these sorts of sacrifices if you want to succeed.

“You are socialising when you’re training though, you build relationships with everyone around you.”

How did she begin skiing and then rise through the ranks?

After taking up skiing when she was just four on a family holiday in Austria, Daniels quickly developed a passion for skiing and was noticed by an instructor when practicing at Manchester’s Chill Factore centre.

She revealed: “I was just having a ski around when one of the instructors came up to my mum and said: ‘Is this your daughter? You should put her in race training, she’s got something.’

“My mum committed to the early mornings and the late nights and took me over to training. I joined an Alpine team after that, started competing a bit and it’s just grown from there.”

Daniels was then noticed by Team GB aged 12 when competing at the Anglo-Scottish Championships in Mascouche and following the race, she was “over the moon” following an email from GB Snowsport which confirmed she’d been selected from the team.

She has subsequently travelled to the European Youth Olympics and the Youth Olympics, the latter of which she describes as her favourite tournament to have competed in thus far.

“It was such an amazing experience. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I really enjoyed it,” she said. “That environment, the Olympic village, the press and the coverage of it, it was just insane.

“I felt like a real athlete at that point. It was just such an honour to be there.”

The path to the Olympics has not been smooth

Daniels described the last couple of years as a “nightmare” due to coronavirus restrictions and injury problems, which have had a real impact both on her training and finances, due to the cost of regular tests when competing.

However, she has kept herself fit and is targeting a spot in Beijing, with the Winter Olympics set to begin there in February next year.

Though she has yet to gain an official rankings she competed at the Youth Olympics last year, finishing 18th in the Super-G, 18th in the combined and 23rd in the giant slalom.

She also competed in the slalom but did not finish.

She said: “I’m going to really work hard this season and aim for Beijing 2022 but if not I’ll go for Milano Cortina 2026.

“This year I am really hoping to go to world juniors over in Panorama in Canada, that’s a big goal of mine.

“Obviously if I do go there I’d be aiming to get the win.”