Skiing success for Guernsey schoolgirl

Tuesday 20 February 2024

Guernsey resident Emma-Josephine Martineau-Fortin won two more gold medals and claimed the overall Snowsport England Championship trophy plate, during the recent English Alpine Championships.

The competition is described as "Snowsport England’s premier Alpine event and is the biggest English week of Alpine ski racing on the calendar with hundreds of the best skiers from the UK and British Isles competing in Bormio in Italy".

The school girl secured the fastest times out of both gender categories in the U14 'Super-G' to win the girls race in Bormio, Italy, last week. The following day she also won the girls' U14 Giant Slalom.

Coupled with a 4th place finish in another race, she secured 250 points out of a possible 300 to win the Snowsport England Trophy too.

Pictured: Emma-Josephine Martineau Fortin claiming another podium place in the u14 category at the English Alpine Championships.

Emma-Jo is the first Guernsey resident to be chosen for the British team and therefore it's the first time that overall award and the individual races have been won by anyone from Guernsey. 

"I feel very honored to be the first Guernsey skier skiing for Great Britain," she said. 

"I think it's fun training. It takes discipline, it takes motivation to go up, but at the end, when you see the results that you're doing, it makes you want to push more."

During these races, the former-Blanchelande College pupil is skiing at speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour, which she says she really enjoys.

"I love speed. Any speed discipline, I'm very glad to do. I love the technical disciplines as well, but when I'm in speed it's like the whole world stops around me and I just keep going," she said.

Pictured: With two gold medals around her neck, Emma-Josephine Martineau Fortin celebrated after another successful competition. 

Emma-Jo's preparation for last week's races were hampered by a car accident she, her younger sister, and their parents were involved in earlier this year, but even having some slight injuries from that didn't slow her down.

She had started her pre-season training in September last year, and that continued as soon as she was allowed to ski again.

She will next compete in some international races in Europe during March, the British Championships in Tignes in April, and the Whistler Cup in Canada, where she'll ski against North American and South American athletes too to end her season.

She'll face some of the same skiers she has already competed against, some of whom are her friends, but Emma-Jo says when the race starts, it's all about getting across the finish line first.

"When I'm in the moment it always comes down to a competition but at the end of the day, it's people that you have to see all the time so you have to be social and as a competitor you always need to be saying 'well done, well played'.

"It's a team sport even though it might seem like an individual sport, so you always need someone to support you and that's how you do it by making friends. So, I'm very grateful and thankful for all the support I'm getting but in the moment, it's all down to you."

When she is racing, Emma Jo's competitive nature comes through and she is determined to beat her friends.

"The first thing is I'm going to kill it, (that's) probably the first thing that goes into my mind.

"I always aim to be getting the best time overall, even with the boys because I think it's a good competition to aim higher than what you're doing, but when I'm at the start, I'm always ready. I'm cheering for the other people, my team, because I really like the feeling when you support the other people they'll always support you back. So it's a great feeling to have teammates or coaches to really be behind you and support you."

Pictured: Emma-Josephine Martineau Fortin competes under the Guernsey flag for Team Great Britain. Her most recent competition wins are pictured above. 

Emma Jo's very proud dad, Eric, told Express how her skiing career is developing with a place representing Great Britain based on her academy performances. 

"She's been racing for the British for almost a couple of years, and she joined a team called Ambition Racing in Austria. This is one of the prominent racing academy's for British Children," he explained. 

"Through this, she had early races in December and January that led her to be picked up as one of the six athletes for GB Snowsport in the under 14 and the woman categories and during the first half of the season she did very well. I think she was close to being the number one pick for the British but this race that she just completed in Bormio, Italy is the Snowsport England Championship.

"This is the one where every kid, not only from England, but from the United Kingdom are showing up to try to compete and it's over a four day period and out of all the races Emma-Jo was successful at winning the Super G, winning the giant slalom and finishing fourth in the slalom category with a third position on the second round.

"She basically nailed it by, by dominating all the other athletes her age. It was a great, great achievement and we're very proud of her."

MORE TO COME... Emma-Josephine Martineau Fortin tells Express her plans for the future and we'll hear how her younger sister is also developing into a competition level skier.