At just 19 years of age, Dara Howell captivated freestyle fans around the world when she won Olympic gold in slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

After the biggest victory of her career, Howell decided to take some time away from the sport she loves to regroup and rest her body.

“I was just physically exhausted,” Howell explained. “With so much on my plate I didn’t really know how to handle it. I just needed to kind of take a step back and do my own thing. It has brought me to where I am now and I feel like I’m more ready. My training is going in the right direction, so that’s a good thing.”

Despite taking almost all of last year off, Howell still managed to finish on the podium in her only competition of the season, where she won bronze at the X Games in Aspen, Colorado.

“Last year was a tough year for me,” said Howell. “So to get bronze at the X Games…to me and my family it felt like a gold. It was a tough thing to do, I wasn’t skiing that much, so I was really happy with a podium finish.”

The 21-year-old slopestyle skier spent most of this summer in her hometown of Huntsville, ON, where she took the time to enjoy the company of family and friends, as well as take part in events such as being a torchbearer for the 2015 Pan Am Games.

“Having the Pan Am Games in Toronto this summer was really exciting. I’m from a small town, so to have the torch come through here and to be a part of the ceremony was really cool,” said Howell.

Now that she is ready to be back on the snow, Howell is slowly working her way back into the sport. She plans to compete four or five times on the World circuit this season, including the X Games and the Dew Tour. She also faces the challenge of balancing skiing and school now that she is taking distance learning courses through Nipissing University.

While she is returning to competition, her main focus will be working on her strength and finding her comfort zone on snow. She has already started working on these goals, having recently returned from training camp in New Zealand.

“It felt really good just to get my skis on and get moving, and really come in with a different mindset than previous times that I’ve been on snow,” added Howell. “It’s a good starting point. I’m happy with how the camp went just getting back on snow, but it’s all baby steps from this point leading up to bigger things.”

Upon her return to World Cup competition, there is no doubt that Howell will carry the support of everyone in her hometown of Huntsville, a small town community which takes great pride in her success. The town even put Howell’s uniform from her Olympic run on display in the community recreation centre as a way to inspire young athletes.

“My family is from here (Huntsville), both sets of grandparents live here, my cousins are from here, and it’s always been a family town to me, so just to have everyone else get behind me and support me is amazing,” said Howell. “I’ve been really lucky in the sense that the town has gotten behind me and all the little kids are so excited to see me. Hopefully that will inspire them to go out and reach their dreams. It’s pretty cool to come from such a small town and to have that amazing feeling of community around you.”

This small town community support has inspired Howell to give back by creating her own charity called ‘Dara’s Fund’. She and her family started this charity to help girls in Muskoka, Ontario reach their goals in high level sports.

“There are so many young girls in Muskoka that are doing amazing things in a whole bunch of different sports. It’s pretty cool to see and pretty cool to follow so I’m excited to see where they go and the next few girls coming up, where they go. It’s pretty cool to have lots of females in the community trying to reach their goals and do incredible things.”

Source: freestyleski.com