Charlotte Bankes has lifted the lid on her surgery and recovery after breaking her collarbone earlier this year.
In April 2025, the 30-year-old broke her collarbone during training, had surgery and was back on the slopes in June before an X-ray showed the bone had not healed.
With the new Olympic season creeping up, it meant that Bankes decided to have a second operation which required a bone graft from her hip.
Since then, Bankes has been sourcing her way back to the slopes at the Intensive Rehabilitation unit at Bisham Abbey with the support of UK Sport, and adapting from her 'norm' to do as much lower body training as she can.
She said: “We're just having to take it a bit easier than we'd hoped just to let the bone properly heal. It's been a bit tough. The bone has taken its time.
“We've had to adapt it because I haven't been able to train as I normally do, but I think all the adaptations that we've made have actually paid off."
Bankes was crowned snowboard cross world champion in 2021, mixed team champion in 2023, alongside teammate Huw Nightingale, and world silver medallist in 2025.
Add that to her five gold medals and one bronze in a brilliant run on the World Cup circuit last season and Bankes undoubtedly has a huge amount of quality behind her making her a medal hopeful for the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
And with plans to be back on the snow by January 2026, which adheres to the timeline for Olympic selections to take place, Bankes is taking nothing for granted on her journey back from injury.
“We don't know if I'll be ready and also if we'll have the all clear to properly race," she said. "I might just be doing the time trials.
“All the options are open and we're just going to adapt to how things are going. It's a bit more day by day. We can't really project ourselves that far, but things are going in a good way now.”
If Bankes can get herself fit and racing her next goal will be focused on a possible fourth Olympics - having represented France at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 and Team GB at Beijing 2022.
“That's the goal and that's what we're working for, but I also know that there's no point focusing on that," she said. "It's sport and I need to focus on my personal performance before thinking about medals.
“There's a team event [at Milano Cortina] as well as the individual and Huw's riding really well at the moment. So, he's in a good position to be selected.”
And with Milano Cortina only one hour ahead of Britain, Bankes is also really looking forward to competing at a Games closer to home, which she believes will put her in a better position than Beijing 2022.
“I think having them back in Europe in the same time zone is going to help massively. They haven't been in Europe since 2006," she said. “It's been a long time that it's not been in the right time zone.
“Just being back in a winter sport country is going to bring a completely different feeling than it was certainly in China.”