Exactly three months to the day since she woke up in a hospital bed following surgery on a fractured fibula, Alex Tilley scooped 22nd in the women’s giant slalom at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Tilley took to the snow at the Xiaohaituo Alpine Skiing Field and safely negotiated a perilous first run that saw 19 of 80 skiers, including reigning champion Mikaela Shiffrin, fail to finish.
Tilley backed it up with a solid second showing to leave her comfortably inside the world’s top 25 and now the 28-year-old Scot’s attention will turn to the slalom on Wednesday.
She said: “I can't be disappointed. A fractured fibula in November put me out for a good couple of months but I'm back.
"I wanted to be back for the Games and I achieved that but to expect a whole lot more from myself at the moment is just too big a stretch - we'll take it."
Tilley’s performance marked a considerable improvement on her efforts in South Korea in 2018 where she failed to finish in both the giant slalom and slalom.
And it’s not just on the piste where she is looking to learn the lessons from PyeongChang, with Tilley determined to revel in the full Olympic experience this time around having had her hopes on the slopes hampered by injury.
She added: “I have to be really honest, when I went to PyeongChang I didn't necessarily enjoy my experience there.
“I knew that fighting to come back for this Games, I really wanted to make the most of the whole experience, not just the racing.
"Turns out that I have to enjoy the experience because the racing isn't going to be the performances that I want and that's just where I'm at.
A super run by Alex Tilley in the giant slalom.
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 7, 2022
She finishes in 22nd 💪#TeamGB | #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/sfpq7YUfoc
"I've loved it and I've really tried to make the most of it and I've met some awesome people but obviously the skiing is not quite where I want it to be, but that's just what it is."
Having only recently returned to action since suffering her injury, Tilley has to manage her troublesome injury before hurtling down the Chinese slopes once again in Wednesday’s slalom.
“We will see how we go tomorrow with training,” she explained. “I've got to manage the ankle a little bit, a certain number of days at a time.
"But the plan is to train tomorrow and try the race again the next day."