Winter Paralympics: Hester Bull pledges ‘bow of redemption’ after accident at first Games

“Some people have glory stories, some people have redemption arcs.”

Hester Pole goes for the latter.

At just 18 years old, the British alpine skier could have been forgiven for feeling a little down in the dumps after a fall in her first appearance at the Winter Paralympics.

But that’s not her style.

After skiing early in her first giant slalom on Thursday, losing her balance and falling brutally down the piste with her guide Ali Hall just watching, Ball took a step back and has already turned her focus to her next race.

“Of course I wanted to do well in my first Paralympic Games,” said Paul, who was born with the rare eye disease Leber Congenital Amaurosis and has only 5-10% vision.

“But some people come here and they have glory stories, they get gold straight away and then have to defend that, and some people have redemption arcs – so that’s the angle I’m going with now.

“I still have the slalom on Saturday, which I’m really looking forward to. I’m just going to try to get this over with and start again on Saturday, and hopefully have some good times.”

Ball, from Bath, did not know she would be competing in the Milan-Cortina Games until three weeks before they started.

The news came in the same month she secured a place to study at Cambridge – a dream she had had since she was eight – after combining her A-level studies with competing on the international stage.