Meet Britain’s rising freestyle ski star Ash Clayton

At just 20, Ash Clayton is already firmly established among the world’s elite freestyle skiers. An England A-team athlete and regular on the World Cup circuit, Ash currently sits inside the top 35 female freestyle skiers globally – an impressive marker as she heads into her fourth competitive season.

Recent standout results include a top-10 finish at the Laax World Cup, alongside strong performances in the FIS Freeski World Cup and Europa Cup events at Silvaplana and Kreischberg, in Switzerland. With the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics now here, this season represents a defining period in Ash’s career. As Ash explains in this interview her journey has been shaped by grassroots freestyle sessions, resilience through injury, a focus on enjoyment as much as results – and the mindset required to compete with the very best.

EARLY YEARS

Tell us about your first success in your sport?
In 2019, I became British Champion out in Laax for big air and slopestyle. There wasn’t many of us back then but little me was so proud.

What was the name of your first sports club?
Starting out, I was never a part of a club because I used to train at multiple slopes, so Snowsport England was my first club

GRASSROOTS

What would you say to someone thinking about trying your sport?
I would say don’t be afraid to fall. Falling is part of the learning process whilst you figure out the basics, but if you’re too scared, you won’t have fun trying.

What do you wish you’d known when you first started out?
It’s okay to be the odd one out because people are just at the slope to ski and have fun. It’s a big community and you will eventually find the skiers that support you.

What initiatives are happening to get people into your sport?
Snowsport England holds Futures Session round the country throughout the year to help beginners get into freestyle. They provide coaching and a really friendly environment for people to have a go

HEROES

Which sportspeople do you admire now, and why?
I admire Kirsty Muir, the only current team GB female freestyle skier. She proves that you can reach the top competitions even from a country with no snow. She also won her first World Cup in Tignes 2025 after a year out with a torn ACL, which is massive inspiration for me as I am still recovering from a broken collarbone

TRAINING

How often do you train?
In winter, 5-6 days a week to make the most of all the conditions. In the summer, I train 2 maybe 3 times a week.

Describe a typical training session
Freestyle nights/parks in the UK are only on for a short amount of time, typically 3 to 4 hours. On these nights, it’s all about the rails. Warming up the basic slides and spins at the start, then putting together some combos and tricks in a line, plus some fun messing about with mates fills a session. In the winter, we spend a full day on the hill, from about 9am – 3pm, sometimes skiing non-stop without lunch if the weather is good. On good days, the focus is on jumps, starting at the small spins and working up to your biggest spin. Lots of training is just practicing tricks you can already do to make them look better by adding grabs.

What is your favourite training session/exercise/drill?
Favourite training session would be either a blue bird day in the winter or a Tuesday night in the UK at Tamworth

Best piece of advice from your coach?
‘Drop when you want to’, meaning that you drop into your run when you want to so you don’t feel rushed

Which part of your body suffers the most in your sport?
Lower body injuries are common due to the heavy impacts we take, so we have to specifically train our knees and legs. However, I’ve had two upper body injuries so I train everything equally.

What’s the toughest thing about being an athlete?
Being injured is definitely up there. Some injuries you can manage and help along with light training, but others just take time, which is very frustrating because there’s nothing you can do to speed up time.

What’s the hardest part/skill in your sport to master?
I would say it’s getting comfortable in your own style. Style is the one thing that you can’t really practice or learn, you just pick it up from other people and it takes time to show through.

MOTIVATION

What’s your training mantra?
I wouldn’t say I have a mantra, but I always try to have fun because if it’s not fun then you can start to get frustrated and make mistakes

How do you keep going mentally when things get tough?
I go back to my comfort tricks – the things I can do every time with not a massive amount of effort or thinking

Do you have a mental exercise you complete or something/someone you think about?
No, a lot of what I think about is how I can be better than yesterday, or 1% better than before just so I don’t get discouraged if a training session isn’t going to plan.

What’s been your greatest sporting moment so far?
I would say it was my 10th place result at my first Laax World Cup. It was only my second World Cup, with some of the biggest names, shocking weather conditions and a very tough course

How do you deal with defeats/set-backs?
Every set-back is like falling over. You fall over, gather your thoughts, then get back up. Getting back up is the most important part because if you stay down, it will be harder to get back up in the future.

What do you do to freshen-up your training routine?
Every training session is different anyway, whether it’s a different park every time or different weather conditions from the day before.

Style is something you can’t force – it just takes time to show through

NUTRITION

What performance foods do you enjoy most and why?
Now that we’re in the off season, I love anything with protein in! Eggs and chicken are amazing along with avocado, bananas and yogurt are great to go along with my diet.

What are you go-to feel-good treats?
Definitely a bowl of yogurt, strawberries with some honey on top.

How does nutrition improve your performance?
In the gym, my nutrition can have an impact on how the session goes. If I haven’t eaten recently, I won’t have a massive amount of energy to get started, but I tend to feel better once I start lifting and drinking water. In winter, it doesn’t really affect performance that much because my mind is so focused on skiing, not on how hungry or tired I feel. It can catch up to you though once you’re down the mountain!

Have you got a favourite recipe you can share?
I love making little sweet potato chips in the air fryer. Nice and simple, bit of oil, salt and pepper, and 20 mins later you’ve tasty homemade chips.

TOP TIPS

Any go-to fitness tips you can recommend?
Working on your lower body is a must with lifts and/or plyometrics give you the strength and mobility to confidently take landings. From my personal experience, I also train upper body for help with throwing spins and also for some extra padding around my bones.

What’s the hardest skill in your sport to perfect?
Being comfortable in yourself as a skier. Everyone around you is progressing at different rates and you sometimes want to push yourself before you’re ready.

Advice on preparing mentally to get involved
Go in with an open mind and remember that it can take time to get comfortable. Also, the little wins are still wins.

FUN STUFF

Can you share three quirky facts not many people know about you?

Are there any sports you aren’t good at?
I’ve been okay at all the ones I tried, but I don’t think I’d be very good at contact sports given the size of me.

How do you unwind away from sport?
Because it’s quite active, I like to crochet and watch movies to chill out. I also love to go out for drives by myself and watch the sunset.

What’s the strangest thing that’s happened during competition? I accidentally let go of my pole mid-air mid grab, which had never happened before. Luckily it was attached to my wrist so it didn’t fly off!