ALL Bournemouth-schooled Jennifer Kehoe needed to become a Paralympic bronze medallist was a nice cup of tea.

Just 24 hours after the British skier and visually impaired partner Menna Fitzpatrick had fallen in their downhill opener, they made the podium in the women's super-G in PyeongChang.

Just getting to the finish line was the first major hurdle to overcome and trusting the form that had already produced 10 World Cup medals this season alone.

But they had some help along the way too, recovering from their blip to prove it was exactly that.

"After the downhill, we just had a cup of tea and a chat with our sport psychologist who helped us think about all of the positives that we've had from this season,” said Kehoe, who attended Bournemouth School for Girls.

“We’re generally quite consistent, it’s rare that we ever fall but it was a bit of a perfect storm of events – we were going very fast and a really difficult bit of the course where we hit a bump.

“That happens in ski racing but we went back to the beginning, reset and told ourselves we could do it.

“We’ve made thousands and thousands of great turns and we’re just going to go for it and get across that finish line.

“Today, we were just so glad and happy to get over the line. I just wanted to give Menna a massive hug and tell her how proud of her I was.”

Though a medal was only in their peripheral aim, the two remained in third place right until the final competitors took to the starting gate – Paralympics GB team-mates Kelly Gallagher and Gary Smith.

It was only then that thoughts of a podium place really surfaced, a nervous wait to see whether the Paralympic champion Gallagher would threaten to defend her crown.

They eventually finished eighth, securing Kehoe and Fitzpatrick's destiny alongside British team-mates Millie Knight and Brett Wild in silver.

Those in charge of the flower ceremony had more faith that would always be the case, however, even if Kehoe believes she and teenager Fitzpatrick have new levels to reach.

“Results are important but for us, this is a first Paralympic race we’ve completed. We were still nervous until Kelly and Gary came down because they’ve been skiing on and off very well this season as well,” she added.

“Our hearts were in our mouths right up until the last moment, the ladies doing the flower ceremony were jostling us in line but we couldn’t – we just wanted to watch and see what happened!

“That was a nervous race, we can ski better and faster and we want to put that into the rest of the competition, we’ve got three more races to go and we’re going to come back fighting.

“We spoke before about the Paralympic nerves, they definitely take over whether you want to admit that they’re there or not.

“We’ve got one under our belts and we can look forward to other racing, the healthy nerves are there but the debilitating ones are not, now we can go and show people how we can ski.”

Sainsbury’s is a proud long-term supporter of the British Paralympic Association and a champion of inclusive sport for all. For more information on Sainsbury’s commitment to inclusive sport visit http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/