SkiMo-Not a city girl: How Harrop's mountain spirit fuels Olympic dream
BORMIO, Italy, Feb 17 : Growing up in a remote village in the French Alps, a yearning for the great outdoors is hard-wired into Emily Harrop.
A need to push herself to the limit is also part of her DNA so it comes as no surprise that ski mountaineering hooked her on a journey that will make her an Olympian on Thursday.
It is no exaggeration to say that in the world of SkiMo, which makes its Games debut this week in Bormio, the 28-year-old Frenchwoman is something of a superstar.
She has been the World Cup overall and sprint champion four years in succession, is a three-time world champion and was also triumphant in Bormio last year in the Olympic test event.
Yet her path into SkiMo was not a direct one.
"I didn't know this sport existed, actually," Harrop said on Tuesday near the foot of the course that will host the first ever Olympic SkiMo competition on Thursday.
"It was in Alpine that was a dream, that was what I wanted, and the Olympics. Even when I started SkiMo, it was not a goal. It was not in the Olympics when I started.
"It was just to have fun. It was just to go out there and discover what my body could do, where it could take me, and the freedom of what SkiMo can give you. I'm not a city girl."
Harrop, who was born to English parents in Bourg Saint Maurice near the resort of Les Arcs, was a promising ski racer at national level until injury blocked that path and at the age of 20 she turned her focus to ski mountaineering.
"It was an emotional roller coaster around that dream. A dream was born, a dream died, and a dream was reborn," she said. "It's pretty amazing to live this. It shows perseverance pays off, whatever happens."
Harrop will be favourite for gold in the women's sprint race on Thursday - an explosive event that incorporates three sections: a brutal run up the Stelvio slope in special skis, a boot-packing dash up steps before a ski back down to the finish.
Heats can be rough and tumble and take around three minutes.
It is far removed from the sport's 19th century origins of ski mountaineering tours in the Alps, but will be an adrenaline-fuelled spectacle Harrop said will raise the profile of SkiMo.
"Of course it feels a bit different. It's a historic moment for our discipline," Harrop, who uses trail running in the summer as training, said. "More nations, more athletes, are getting involved, and that's great.
"We've seen the level's just getting higher and higher."
Harrop will have two shots at Olympic gold as she also partners Thibault Anselmet in Saturday's mixed team event.
