A WEST of Scotland skier is aiming for a place on the podium at the Winter Olympics.

Pamela Thorburn, who competes in ski-cross, hopes to come home with a medal if she qualifies for the Games in Sochi, Russia, next month.

The 21-year-old, from Strathaven, who trains at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, said competing at the event would mean the world to her.

And she hopes that two good performances at World Cup events in the French Alps this week will confirm her place.

Pamela said: "You can't go into an Olympic Games without wanting to go for a medal.

"The thing I love about the Olympics is anything can happen, especially with my sport where there are a lot of crashes and a lot going on.

"There is not necessarily one person better than the rest."

Pamela first got her taste for the slopes during a family holiday when she was three.

She went on to do her first race at the age of seven and after completing her Highers, made the decision to ski full- time when she was 16.

Pamela originally competed in Alpine skiing but after a bad injury and the disappointment of missing out on a place at the 2010 Winter Olympics, she decided to switch to ski-cross.

After only three races she was the 2012 British ski-cross champion.

Pamela said: "It was really hard adapting, some people still see it as skiing but there are so many things that are different.

"The stuff that is different like the style of jumps and racing with people right beside you are the things that make or break the race."

Ski-cross sees the fastest 32 competitors go head to head in races of four with the first two across the line progressing to the next round.

Pamela is one of the Bank of Scotland's Local Heroes, part of the company's London 2012 legacy programme.