By Anna Thompson Winter sports editor

In February, skier Chemmy Alcott was on a high after finishing 11th in the women's downhill at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

Alcott on her way to 11th place in the Olympic downhill

It was the best ski result by a British woman for nearly 40 years.

She was cheered on by her family and friends on the slopes at San Sicario but within two weeks her triumph turned to heartache with the sudden death of her mother Eve.

Alcott, from Hove in Sussex, took three months off at the end of the season to have a complete break from the sport as well as undergoing a much-needed foot operation.

But she is back skiing and preparing for her World Cup campaign - which begins in Lake Louise in Canada on 1 December.

Alcott told BBC Five Live: "The reason I went through with the surgery on my feet was because I needed some time away from the sport.

"I had just lost my mother who was my number one fan and I thought it was important to sit down and reflect on things.

"If I hadn't have done that, I'm one of these extremists who would have over-trained, so I thought it was important to step back from the sport.

"I took three months off and it was really good closure for me."

My mum and I had the same dreams - she wanted me to be the number one racer and I'm just going to have to use that and ski fast with it Chemmy Alcott

She has not set any goals for this season but hopes her mother's death will spur her on.

"I feel no-one expects much of me from this season because I have been through such a hard time, but this leaves me free with no restrictions in my head.

"I feel I am really skiing fast because of it.

"If I look back at my skiing career, every time I've had to go through a hardship I've skied fast.

"My mum and I had the same dreams - she wanted me to be the number one racer and I'm just going to have to use that and ski fast with it."

Alcott, 24, has been plagued with bunionettes for years which had prevented her from wearing hard-cased ski boots when she was racing.

They regularly became infected and she was told that without surgery the infection could reach her bone and, in a worst-case scenario, her feet could be amputated.

"I did the surgery to be able to ski pain-free. It got to the stage where the pain was really hard for me to suppress and it was getting in the way of me winning races," Alcott said.

Alcott believes that despite the setbacks she has had this year, she can come back stronger from her experiences.

"I always feel when something special is going to happen on the slopes and I can feel that already," she added.