A FARNHILL teenager has been selected to represent her country in the Special Olympics World Winter Games.

Champion ice skater Jenny Lee will travel to Austria next year as part of a 21-strong Great Britain team.

She is one of 10 figure skaters who will compete alongside 11 Alpine skiers from the UK at Graz and Schladming.

The Games, whose competitors have learning disabilities, will feature nine Olympic-type winter sports involving 3,000 athletes from 110 nations.

In April last year, at the age of 18, Craven College catering student Jenny and her 21-year-old sister Hannah, both of Main Street, Farnhill, took part in the Inclusive Skating Championships in Glasgow.

In categories including figure skating, speed skating and ice dance, Jenny won one gold and two silver medals while Hannah took four gold medals.

The Inclusive Skating competition system allows skaters with any form of impairment to compete fairly against each other through an impairment compensation that is added to the skating score. The eventual aim is to make ice skating a Paralympic sport.

Jenny, who is deaf so uses cochlear implants and has learning difficulties, gained a Special Olympic gold medal for ice skating in 2013.

Jenny also takes part in competitive equestrian events with fellow riders from Haworth Riding for the Disabled.

She was last year among seven local riders achieving success at a contest at Scropton Equestrian Centre in Derbyshire.

The Winter Games is one of the biggest events in the movement’s global calendar and is held every four years.

The games will begin on March 18, 2017, with a spectacular opening ceremony, hosted by Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Games’ honorary president.

Tim Shriver, global chairman of Special Olympics, said: “Austria was the first country outside the US to host a Special Olympics World Games and helped us show the world the gifts and talents of our Special Olympics athletes.”