Charlie Guest: My life has done a complete 180
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Updated 30/12/2019 at 10:48 GMT
After an up and down 12 months Charlie Guest talks to Pete Sharland about where she’s at now, and her hopes for this season.
PyeongChang Winter Olympic hopeful Charlie Guest poses for photographs at The Orium sports complex on August 18, 2017 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Image credit: Getty Images
Redemption can come in many forms.
But there cannot be too many better feelings as an athlete than returning to the scene of a failure, and instead instilling new memories of success.
At the start of December Charlie Guest secured two podiums in the Europa Cup event at Funesdalen, Sweden, the same place that four years ago she broke her spine during a training run.
It was a timely reminder of just how far Guest has come in her short career but it could have been all over last year for a completely different reason.
Towards the end of 2018 Guest was in a bad place mentally, she was struggling on and off skis which she documents in brutally honest fashion on her blog, and she decided that she was going to give it all up and do something else instead.
Yet thanks to the support structure now in place with GB Snowsport she was put in contact with a mental health specialist, who she credits for getting her career back on track.
“That’s [mental health support] the number one thing at the moment.” Guest says when she talks to Eurosport.
“Beyond anything else, your physical health and mental health need to come first and they’re both things I’ve struggled with massively over the last two years. Both are so intertwined.
“If your mental health isn’t good your body won’t respond and likewise if you’ve got a niggle and your body isn’t where it needs to be your mental health will suffer.
“It was so important having the GBS structure. They got me into a clinic on Harley Street and that was life changing.
“Without my specialist and the support from there I wouldn’t be able to do anything I did last year and I would be out of ski racing.”
And it was quite the year for Guest in the end.
She returned to Europa Cup action in Jasna in March and secured a podium and then, a couple of weeks later, she became the first British woman to ever win a Europa Cup slalom when she triumphed in Italy.
Now she’s setting her sights even higher.
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Charlie Guest of Great Britain in action during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Parallel Slalom on December 15, 2019 in St Moritz Switzerland
Image credit: Getty Images
“Get into the top 30.” Guest instantly replies when Eurosport asks her about goals for this season.
“Minimum one time, I’ve got to be realistic, I’ve never done it so to get in you’ve got to amongst the top 30 skiers in the world on that day, it’s not easy.
“I believe I’ve got the pace and the ability, fingers crossed I’m going to have a healthy season.
“Might take me a little longer to reach full form but I’m fully confident and that’s the mindset, take no prisoners.”
Guest has already struggled a bit with injury at the start of the season but 10 days before Christmas she secured her goal, earning the first World Cup points of her career finishing 29th in the Parallel Slalom at St Moritz.
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Guest falls to Haver-Loeseth but secures first World Cup points
Now the challenge in 2020 is going to be able to build on that and push forward in the way Alex Tilley and Dave Ryding have done in Alpine Skiing.
Ryding, Britain’s greatest skier, is a role model for the new generation, Guest sees as much when she talks to kids coming through the GB Snowsport pathway. She wants to perform the same role as the Rocket and the women’s number one, Mikaela Shiffrin.
“[It’s about] Getting girls into sport, they can see Shiffrin who is as big a deal as Marcel Hirscher so they’ve got an idol to work towards.” Guest says when Shiffrin is brought up.
“It’s not like oh there’s no point me skiing because I won’t be able to make a career out of it, no you will.
I’m not on her level but I want to be that role model for younger girls like she is,
“Being strong, powerful and being yourself, not being that Kardashian style figure is cool and will get you places.”
She’s fully supported as well, the work put in by GB Snowsport CEO Vicky Gosling and Performance Director Dan Hunt is a recurring theme when talking to British athletes and Guest is no different.
“I’ve listened to a lot of what Vicky and Dan have to say and I think the character makes us, we’ve had to fight.
“It makes you an all-rounded athlete and I think that’s one of the most important things athletes need to have is resilience, and we’ve got that in bucket loads.
Like Ryding she has faced a load of questions about her journey to where she is today mostly from athletes where there is more skiing infrastructure.
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Charlie Guest of Great Britain competes during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Slalom on March 9, 2019 in Spindleruv Mlyn Czech Republic
Image credit: Getty Images
And Like Ryding she knows that sometimes she can be a little tough on herself when she doesn’t live up to her own standards.
“I speak to people, even at Europa Cup, and they’re like how are you doing this?
“For people who know about ski racing the support we get is amazing. The Austrians praised Dave. When you put into perspective for people they’re always like wow and they can’t quite grasp it.
“I think we sometimes forget, I’m definitely hard on myself sometimes when I look at it but I also think we’re not discouraged by the fact we’ve got it a little bit harder from the start.”
Guest knows she’s in as good a place as she has been for ages and the platform around her is better than ever. By her own admission, things have completely changed.
“My life has done a complete 180 since this time last year.” She says towards the end of the interview.
Now it’s up to her to take the opportunity in front of her.
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