"I love the challenge, it's all just fun" - World beater: How Brighouse's Katie Ormerod has reached the summit

The 22-year-old is relaxed and, for a sport featuring so many twists and turns, very level-headed, despite reaching such a momentous point in her career.

Ormerod was crowned World Cup champion this week after the final event in the series was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Ormerod, who was top of the leaderboard with one round to go, is the first British woman to win a World Cup title on snow and the first British snowboarder, male or female.

Ormerod, whose cousin is Olympic snowboarder Jamie Nicholls, has lived in Brighouse her whole life, and still lives in the house she grew up in. She began snowboarding at Halifax Dry Slope aged five.

“My mum and dad were very keen snowboarders and they went there,” says Ormerod, speaking a few days before she won the World Cup.

“I think they wanted to go on a snowboarding holiday so they started learning there, and I went with them, and got really into it.

“After going on the holiday, my mum and dad really loved it, so we just kept going to the dry slope.

“I got better and better and really enjoyed it.

“All my memories of being really young are of snowboarding, I just had so much fun.

“I went there every week, as much as I could after school, I loved every minute of it.

“I was also balancing that with gymnastics at Diamonds Gymnastics Club in Halifax.

“I trained there five times a week, did gym and snowboarding on the same day sometimes.

“It was so much fun to me, and because I enjoyed it so much, it was really easy to progress.”

When she was 12, Ormerod was spotted by the head coach of the British snowboarding team while at a camp in France. Within a year, she was on the national team.

“Then I started travelling the world with them, going to America, New Zealand, all these countries I’d never been to before.

“Having that level of coaching, my riding progressed and I started winning national medals.”

Ormerod goes to the southern hemisphere at the start of the season, around July and August, to train because it’s winter time there.

She usually returns to Europe around October for pre-season in Switzerland and Austria, before following the season circuit around the world.

“I never really know what my season looks like at the start of the year,” she says, “I just take it as it goes.

“There are set dates when we know the World Cup or the Olympics start.

“Two weeks ago I had a normal training week but I hadn’t had that since the start of the season because it’s been so busy with the World Cup.

“Once the season starts you have to make the most of every bit of training because once the competitions start, it’s pretty full on.

“We do have training camps around the competitions but you just have to plan things as you go on.”

In May 2014, then aged 16, Ormerod became the first female snowboarder to land a double cork 1080, one of the most complex manoeuvers in snowboarding, which involves three rotations and two inverted flips.

At the 2017 FIS Freeski and Snowboard Big Air World Cup, she took home gold in Moscow and silver in Milan, positioning her second in the 2017 Overall Big Air World Cup rankings

“When I started, I was so young, I just did it purely for enjoyment, I didn’t even think about competitions,” she says.

“But it’s definitely grown as a sport. In 2014, it was just slopestyle in the Olympics, but you can see a lot more people want to get involved in the sport, want to get their kids involved.

“It’s really growing as a sport, especially in Britain, people are really interested.

“It’s quite big in America, because they’ve got a lot of resorts and people can get access to them. They’ve got a lot of professional riders.”

But the former St Joseph’s Primary School and Hipperholme Grammar School pupil can still walk around her home town without being recognised.

“The people are so nice, it’s turned me into a strong person, I feel really independent and wise,” she says.

“I grew up in a really good family, and I feel like I’ve come out a really well-rounded person.

“It’s mainly in snow resorts that I get recognised though. The fans all know who I am so they’ll want my picture and my autograph.”

Ormerod’s heartbreaking injury a couple of years ago brought her to national prominence.

Before she was due to compete in the slopestyle and big air snowboarding events at the 2018 Winter Olympics, for which she was described as “arguably Britain’s best medal chance”,

Ormerod was was forced to withdraw after breaking her heel in two places in training.

She had previously broken her wrist, but was determined to compete.

“The Olympics come around so fast. Straight after I got injured for the 2018 Olympics I was straight away thinking about the next one in Beijing (in 2022),” she says.

“The qualifications are in August so it’s coming around really quickly. It is on my mind, I’m really looking forward to it more than anything, I’m excited to get going.”

Watch out world: this week’s World Cup title may well be the catalyst that sees Ormerod go on to conquer the Olympics.

“I definitely appreciate everything, all my opportunities and success,” she says.

“Every time I got a medal growing up, I really appreciated it. Everything means so much to me, all the opportunities I’ve had, the countries I’ve been to.

“I’ve never taken anything for granted.

“I’ve worked really hard for it but it’s definitely a really fun lifestyle, I love it so much, getting to travel the world with my friends on the British team and do all these competitions.

“I really enjoy the competitions, I love the challenge. It’s all just fun.”