A 21-year-old former Benenden School student who is competing at the Winter Olympics has urged other young people to follow their dreams.
Eloise King was the flag bearer for the Hong Kong, China team in Italy, where she is competing in the Women’s Slalom next week – in what will be her final race before retiring from the sport.
Eloise spent five years at Benenden and has been inundated with messages after leading the team at the weekend’s opening ceremony. She said: “Everyone in my year group has been messaging me and it’s pretty nice.”
She issued an inspirational plea to her younger peers, saying: “As long as you enjoy something, you should keep trying.
“It’s like anything you do, it’s not going to come easy all the time but work hard, persevere and have fun and you can do whatever you set out to do.”
Eloise has been skiing since the age of four and took up racing just before joining Benenden when she was 13. She was given the news that she had qualified for the Olympics on her 21st birthday last month, having previously competed for Hong Kong at the Asia Games and the World Championships.
Speaking from her hotel room in Cortina, Eloise described her experience at the World Championships as “amazing”, despite dislocating her shoulder the day before the competition.
She added: “That was the first time I raced against the top skiers in the world. At the start gate you could hear people cheering at the bottom – it was so noisy! That was pretty special for me.”
Eloise is currently training five hours every day in preparation for the Women’s Slalom at the Winter Olympics next Wednesday, 18 February. The competition involves skiers tackling the course twice: it’s changed between runs and competitors are only able to inspect it before their race – they are not allowed a practice run.
“You try and remember as much as you can and visualise as much as you can but there will always be something that crops up,” she said.
Speaking with one week to go until competition day, Eloise said: “For now I’m excited. The nerves haven’t quite hit me yet but I’m sure the night before I won’t be able to sleep!”
Eloise laughed off any medal hopes, saying there would be up to 100 skiers competing, adding: “For small nations like Hong Kong, the goal is to get the winter sports on the TV to hopefully inspire more people back at home.
“For me personally, I want to make sure I prepare as well as I can so I can perform the two runs as quickly as possible and just enjoy myself.”
Eloise left Benenden after Sixth Form in 2023 to study Materials Science and Engineering at Imperial College London.
In addition to her skiing prowess, at Benenden she captained the Fencing team for two years and won a Physics Prize at Speech Day.
She is currently on a gap year from her studies to focus on her skiing but is retiring after the Olympics to focus on her degree and her subsequent career.
Eloise said: “Being at the Olympics is a wonderful experience but it’s taken a lot and I’m ready to hang up my skis.
“It’s my last week ever of training and I’m with friends I probably won’t see in a really long time, so it’s sad but at the same time I’m ready to get back to a more stable lifestyle for a while!”
Asked what she has loved about ski racing, Eloise said: “We get to travel so much – it’s really hard being away from home and sleeping in a different bed every couple of days but it’s also the best thing because you can see so much of the world and get to meet people from so many different countries.
“Nothing can beat the adrenaline you feel on a mountain on a really good day.”
Benenden School Headmistress Rachel Bailey said: “Eloise is an utter inspiration to girls everywhere and we are so proud of her.
“We’ll all be cheering her on next week and we look forward to her coming back to Benenden to tell us all about her wonderful experience.”
· Eloise King will be competing for Hong Kong, China in the Women’s Slalom on Wednesday 18 February, starting at 9.00am (UK time)
Categories: Benenden School School News
