Janet Gray suffered leg and arm fractures and facial injuries

The 41-year-old county Down woman was airlifted to hospital after smashing into a wooden and metal ramp in Tampa Bay, Florida.

But her manager Max Williamson said that she had already asked if she would able be to continue in the sport.

''She asked her husband if she would be fit the 2005 worlds,'' he said.

The world champion sustained a broken jaw plus leg, arm fractures in the accident, and underwent a four-hour surgery with more to hospital treatment to follow.

"Her injuries were not life-threatening and she is stable in hospital," said Williamson.

''It could be June or July before she can come back home. She is still not able to speak to her husband Paul because of her facial injuries.

''However, she has been communicating by pressing digits on a special telephone designed for blind people.''

Mrs Gray was trying a new pair of skis and mistakenly went off-course and crashed into a ski-jump ramp.

''She even asked what had happened to the new skis she was using.

''But I don't think she appreciates the damage that has been done to her body - she's so competitive and determined to try and get back.''

When the accident happened on Monday, Mrs Gray was unconscious and airlifted to Tampa General Hospital where she remains.

DUP politician Jeffrey Donaldson helped organise an emergency passport from Mrs Gray's husband so that he could travel to America.

Mrs Gray, who suffers from a hereditary condition which blinded her father and her brother, began water skiing at 21 after losing her deteriorating sight in an accident at work.