Gymmin' Miel!

JADE Martin is hoping to represent Australia in skeleton at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Having had her first taste of the sport only last year, she will head overseas to compete on the international circuit this October.

Looking to spend five months in Europe, America and Canada with her fellow WA team mates, the 21-year-old said she never dreamed she would have another chance to compete at the Olympics after a back injury forced her to retire from the Australian gymnastics team in 2008.

“About three months before I was meant to head to Beijing, I was forced to retire due to stress fractures in my back,” Martin said.

“My old coach told me about the try-outs for bobsledding last November, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

She qualified for the WA skeleton team – a fast sliding winter sport that propels athletes down a frozen track facing down using a small sled.

But Martin did not actually make her track debut until March this year, when her team went to New York for the International America’s Cup race.

All achieving a ranking within the top 100 in the world, she said she was keen to continue in the sport. “Skeleton gives me the same adrenaline rush that gym did,” she said.

GYMNAST Lauren Mitchell is hoping the past mirrors the future as she prepares for a busy six months of competition.

Mitchell, 19 next month, has had an injury-interrupted start to 2010 after breaking her wrist late last year and then badly rolling her ankle a few months later.

Now back in full training, Mitchell is confident she can match last year's record-breaking feats, which saw her claim two silver medals at the world championships.

"It's kind of the same as last year when I had a rib injury, so I'm taking it as a good omen," she said.

"I missed the first half of last year and blitzed the second, so I hope to do the same again this year."

Mitchell returned from the championships in London to a heroine's welcome.

While her dual silver medal result is the best by an Australian at an international gymnastics meet, she insists her newfound status as the nation's greatest gymnast has not changed her approach to the sport.

"I'm still the same gymnast and everyone out there is still training, still getting better, so I still have to train to get better and I know I can improve," she said.

"The only pressure and expectation is the one I put on myself. I know all I have to do is what I did last time, but at the end of the day my best will get me there."

After a quicker-than-expected recovery from her double injury blow, Mitchell will spend the next two weeks preparing for the national championships in Perth, starting on July 5.

The nationals will double as selection trials for the Commonwealth Games in October.

Mitchell will make her Games debut in Delhi, if selected, after missing out on competing at the Melbourne Games in 2006 due to injury.

Fellow WA gymnasts Daria Joura and Emma Little will not compete at the national championships as they continue their recoveries from ankle and elbow injuries.

Mitchell hopes to feature among the individual medals in Delhi, but her primary aim is to guide the Australian team to top honours. And she is not fazed by the security fears surrounding the Games, but is advising her parents to stay home and save their money.

"If the organising committee say it's safe, then I trust them that it's safe to go," she said. "I think because I've been to the Olympics before, I know what to expect, so I don't really think it will be that much different to Beijing (2008 Olympics)."