HESTER Poole has always had the ‘audacity to dream big’ but even she would have struggled to envisage a Paralympics call-up and Cambridge offer within a month, writes Laura Howard.

The 18-year-old visually impaired para-alpine skier from Bath only found out she had been selected to represent ParalympicsGB at Milano Cortina in February, three weeks before the Opening Ceremony. That came just a fortnight after she received an offer to study English Literature at the University of Cambridge, having juggled A-level revision and university applications with competing on the World Cup circuit.

“It’s been a nail-biting wait but it feels all the sweeter for it. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet,” said Poole, who studied at King Edward’s School, Bath. “I had the audacity to dream big from a very young age. I was always a little weirdo and decided I'm going to go to Cambridge at eight years old.

“That’s definitely been a dream at the same time as the skiing dream. I'm quite pleased that I've managed to keep them parallel. It's all come together in quite a nice way.

“I really have to applaud my support network and my teachers, who have rolled their eyes and accepted my half-finished essay plans instead of the essays they’ve asked for over the past four years.

“I can’t lie and say it’s been easy. Every athlete knows the struggle of trying to balance sport with whatever it is. It’s been a challenge.”

Poole will make her Paralympic debut on the Italian slopes of Cortina D’Ampezzo alongside her guide Ali Hall, who is familiar with the juggling act and is currently studying psychology at the University of Edinburgh himself.

Poole was born with a congenital condition that meant her retinas did not develop fully, leaving her with holes in her vision that her brain has to work to fill in.