Seven months ago, it was an extreme improbability Alix Wells would be able to compete for Team B.C. at the 2011 Canada Winter Games.
She tripped on the soccer field and her leg was a mess -- two broken bones including a spiral fracture that ran from the top of her shin to her ankle, all patched back together with a plate and a handful of screws.
Not the kind of injury conducive to alpine ski racing.
But by January, the 15-year-old from Prince George left no doubt her recovery is nearly complete. Wells, a J1 skier (15 and 16-year olds) lined up in the start gate along with 52 other competitors at the GMC Cup series slalom race at Lake Louise and put down a pair of scintillating runs to win the silver medal, second only to J2 (17-19 year olds) skier Tianda Carroll of Edmonton.
Wells was also the top J1 athlete (12th overall) at her other Canada Games qualifier at Nakiska, Alta.
"I didn't think I'd be going to Canada Games but I qualified," said Wells, from her billet home in Invermere. "I've never been to a multi-sport event like that, other than B.C. Games. It'll be cool to meet other people in different sports and see them do well."
Wells knows two of the Prince George athletes competing in the Games -- hockey player Josh Connolly and biathlete Sarah Beaudry. Both began their respective competitions on the weekend.
"I'll get to see a couple of events after our racing is finished," Wells said. "We'll go to a couple of finals in whatever we can get tickets for."
She leaves for Halifax on Friday and will be there until the 27th. There are four alpine races (slalom, giant slalom, super G and super-combined) at Ski Wentworth, a small resort north of Halifax that's also the site of freestyle skiing events this week.
"I've heard it's not a big mountain and there are not a lot of steep runs," Wells said. "It's smaller than Tabor. The snow is like Ontario, it's sugary, not hard-packed. I struggled in that kind of snow in Collingwood."
That's not entirely true.
Wells went to Collingwood, Ont., last March for the K2 national championships and won the giant slalom championship.
She was also third in the slalom, had top-five finishes in all her four races and placed second overall. Of all the Canada Games races, she's most looking forward to the slalom and giant slalom.
Her leg injury still bothers her at times, and she listens to what her body is telling her.
"It definitely does inhibit what I can do," said Wells. "Sometimes, if I hit a bump or something, I have to stop for the day. I just have to manage my pain. It gets a bit sore after a hard day's skiing."
Wells is a Grade 10 student at Kelly Road secondary school and although she'll spend most of the current school year in the East Kootenay town, she does commute back home to Kelly Road for classroom sessions. In Invermere, she's studying by correspondence, which allows her the flexibility to ski at nearby Panorama Resort during the day and then take off for races.
"It's a lot easier being here for travel," Wells said. "It used to take six hours for us to get to a race. Here we only have to go two hours.
"The school thing is working out well. I'm on the principal's list (with a 90 per cent average). My parents (Ian and Karen) are pretty happy."
Wells has been back in Invermere since Feb. 2 and won't return to Prince George until after her next three alpine events -- the Western Canadian championships, senior national championships and the spring race series.
