GO HARD or go home – that will be the approach employed by Queensbury's Jamie Nicholls as he begins his second Winter Olympics tomorrow in PyeongChang.

In 2014 the 24-year-old finished sixth as snowboard slopestyle made its debut in Sochi.

But for an individual who makes a living from travelling all over the world competing against the very best in the business, being caught standing still is not an option.

It's exactly why Nicholls has been meticulous in his preparations for this year's Games in South Korea, sacrificing time at home to continue perfecting skills on his board.

And it's also the reason why his wife Jenny and sister Sophie will not be present for the first of his two competitions – the men's slopestyle tomorrow. Distractions are not welcome.

“I don't mind someone coming out for the competition. My wife has seen me at World Cups for example,” said Nicholls, who will also compete in the big air competition later in the Games.

“But because I can't be with them as I'm staying in the village, it's a little bit more stressful because you don't know how they're doing, if they're all right.

“We've worked it all out. They will fly Sunday but it will already be my evening so if I did well in the finals, they would already know before they took off.

“To compete at the Olympics, it's like the icing on the cake. We've worked so hard to qualify .

“It's better to go for it and then you can feel like you can walk away, no matter what happens, knowing that you tried your best.

“I've done everything I can possibly do in the lead up to the Olympics to do my best. I've been riding constantly on my snowboard. I've hardly been at home with my family, I've just been on my snowboard away in Switzerland working hard.”

The Phoenix Snow Park slopestyle course is clearly a challenging one but the former Queensbury School pupil is optimistic about his chances.

“It's definitely going to be good and there are going to be lots of different runs. It's not just going to be boring where everyone hits the same rail, there's going to be a lot of different things going down,” he added.

“Everything suits my style apart from the first set of jumps. As soon as I get past that first jump I will be pretty happy.

“Obviously the run is not finished and I'll still have more big tricks to go down but I'll feel more confident.”

Nicholls' cousin and fellow snowboarder Katie Ormerod, from Brighouse, was also due to compete in the Games but she suffered a severely fractured right heel in practice yesterday which has ruled her out.

* Watch Jamie Nicholls in the men's slopestyle qualification on Eurosport Player on February 10. Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games on Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Go to www.Eurosport.co.uk