Despite sustaining a broken sternum, a broken rib, two fractured back vertebrae, three fractured neck vertebrae, a dislocated shoulder and ligament damage from the incident, the Wellington based Teelow has her fingers crossed that she will be able to one day race again.

“World Championship selections are on in November and I am hoping I will be alright to compete,” she said.

“To be told that I will never be able to ski again would be hard news to take,” she said.

Teelow, who is well known for reaching speeds of over 100km/h on her ski, said she was travelling at about 70km/h when she hit a wave and went flying head first into the water.

“My ski had been playing up the day before and in order to ride it I had to lean further back than I would normally position myself,” Teelow said.

“I hit a wave and I was thrown head first into the water and just tumbled.

“I knew my shoulder was out and something was wrong with my neck, but I was conscious the whole time,” she said.

The 43-year-old mother of two said skiing is her life and she is staying positive.

“I wont know until I head back to the specialist in two weeks just the extent of my neck injuries and whether I will need a shoulder reconstruction or not,” she said.

“If I was told that I had an 80 per cent chance of becoming a quadriplegic if I ever fell again then I would be stupid to go back to the sport.

“However if they told me it was more a 50/50 or 20/80 chance then I would certainly still think about competing.”

This isn’t the first serious fall Tellow has endured. At the age of 17 she broke her back in five places in one accident while competing.

She has been competing in skiing events since age 10 and in that time she has been Australian champion 14 times, NSW State Champion 16 times and in 1988 she was the Formula One world champion.

All going well, Teelow said she had a good few years of competing left in her before she retires.

“Skiing is what I do, it is what my family does, I just love it,” she said.

anna.yeo@ruralpress.com