Inspirational Young Person of the Month - Katie Ormerod
Name: Katie Ormerod
Age: 24
Profession: Professional Snowboarder
Hometown: Brighthouse, England
Katie Ormerod has been named one of the brightest talents in modern snowboarding. Born in Yorkshire, England in 1997, Katie has been snowboarding since the age of four. Growing up she balanced her snowboarding career with county-level gymnastics, however, realised soon that her true passion was on the slopes.
Katie later credited her gymnastics training as being crucial to her success within her snowboarding career, recognising that it has aided her muscular strength and special awareness when she boards. This advantage can be seen through her record-breaking achievements - at just 15 she became the youngest female to land a Double Backflip on a snowboard, and then only a year later the first female to land a Backside Double Cork 1080 in the world.
It’s these first-class freestyle skills that have brought Katie a wealth of successes on some of snowboarding’s biggest stages. This includes a 2017 FIS Freeski and Snowboard Big Air World Cup – where she took home gold in Moscow and silver in Milan, positioning her second in the 2017 Overall Big Air World Cup rankings.
This year, it’s third time lucky for the athlete as she prepares to take part in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics later next month. This is not the first time Katie has been selected to take part in the games as part of team GB. After narrowly missing out on qualifying in 2014, Katie was selected to take part in the 2018 XXIII Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, where she was named one of the UK’s greatest hopes to win gold. Unfortunately, Katie tragically broke her heel in training and missed out on competing.
Her injury was so serious, the snowboarder described it as making previous injuries including broken arms "feel like papercuts". After a series of operations, skin grafts, and intensive injury rehab, Katie defied all odds and got back onto the snowboard, and began making up for the lost time. A year after her miraculous recovery, Katie became an overall World Cup Champion in Slopestyle. Katie is the first British Snowboarder to ever win this title.
This year, Katie is back and ready to prove herself again. Next month she is aiming to take gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics - Best of luck to Katie in her challenge! It is Katie’s drive and determination that have been key to her success, never giving up in the face of rejection or injury. This is a powerful message for young people to remember and will serve them well as they start their careers. Never give up on what you want - keep working to meet your goals.