Brighouse snowboarder Katie Ormerod has taken another important step towards what she hopes will be a place in the Winter Olympics.

The 13-year-old Hipperholme Grammar School pupil finished second in the slopestyle girls’ event and fifth in the halfpipe girls’ event at the Burton European Open – one of the sport’s premier competitions – at Laax in the Swiss Alps.

Her dad Mark said: “Katie came fourth in both events last year so she was a possibility to get on the podium in each.

“But she can only practice the halfpipe when the training facilities are good enough, such as in Breckenridge, Colorado or Saas Fee in Switzerland, which means only three or four times a year.”

Katie’s 17-year-old cousin Jamie Nicholls is also a top British snowboarder. He is already part of the senior squad – and both have inherited their family’s sporting genes.

Mark explained: “Kate’s great grandfather is former Great Britain rugby league international Charlie Pollard (Wakefield Trinity, capped in 1924), and her great uncle is Roy Pollard (Dewsbury, capped by Great Britain in 1949 and 1950).

“Also there is David Pollard, who won a rugby union blue for Oxford University.”

Katie faced tough competition from Europeans and Americans in the European Open but was only beaten by her Roxy team-mate Ty Walker, of the United States, in the slopestyle girls’ event.

The 13-year-old earned her silver medal with a run consisting of a nollie frontflip, a half-cab and a back three.

Katie’s dad added: “She is doing more technically demanding runs than a year ago.”

Competition was also tough in the halfpipe girls, where Katie scored an impressive 70.

Mark added: “We first noticed that Katie might be special one Christmas when she was about four.

“We had bought her a present and it had been taken out of the cardboard box, which was about three feet high and came up to her shoulders.

“But Katie, from a standing jump, leapt into the box, which amazed everybody.

“She is also a county-level gymnast and is a member at Diamonds Gym Club in Halifax.

“What with snowboarding and gymnastics, which she does three or four times a week, there seems to be something on every night.

“Katie goes to SNOzone in Castleford for free snowboarding training, doing freestyle on Thursday and Friday nights, and she also uses the dry slope in Halifax as well.

“She was spotted by Lesley McKenna, the Roxy team manager, and has been to Colorado for three weeks of training before Christmas, while last year she went to Saas Fee in Switzerland.

“Hipperholme School are very supportive and either send Katie lessons by e-mail or they can be accessed via the school website. She has taken exams while abroad.”

Mark added: “The 2014 Winter Olympics may come a bit too soon for Katie, who is on the Great Britain junior elite team, but hopefully she will be selected for the 2018 Winter Olympics.”

Queensbury-based Nicholls also impressed at Laax, finishing 13th in the men’s slopestyle.