PA Sport is following Great Britain downhill skier Roger Cruickshank throughout his build-up to next February's Winter Olympics in Turin.

In his own weekly column, RAF flying officer Cruickshank will reveal the highs and lows of life on the World Cup circuit as he seeks to fulfil one of his lifetime ambitions.

My rollercoaster road to recovery continued this week with plenty of ups and downs on my return to snow after a two-week rest.

On my first day back last Thursday I felt hardly any pain and was really quite excited, but the next day was a complete nightmare and I was hurting too much to even ski the course.

Things are so unpredictable it is hard to gauge whether my knee is getting better, but I return to London this week to have a specially designed brace fitted so I hope that will help.

I watched a commercial for the Winter Olympics on television this week which made me shiver with anticipation but also brought home to me the fact that it is just over two months away and I am running out of time.

I have pre-qualified for the race but I still need to get a result within three per cent of what I have already done last season. I don't think I would want to go to Turin if I didn't feel I had a chance.

It is a case of being patient and plugging away. The good thing is that because I have been injured I have got no time-frame - all it needs is one good performance before the Olympics and I will be there.

I will fight this to the end and there is no way I will give up, and I won't let anybody tell me that I won't make it. I still have pain in my knee but I will fight until it either goes away or rules me out.

The British team was boosted by Finlay Mickel's 19th place in the first World Cup of the season in Lake Louise last week. I'm sure Finlay will be very happy with that and it was a great start for him.

But Finlay had a bad crash in the super-giant slalom the following day which brought home just how unpredictable our sport is - one little mistake in the wrong place and you can end up in the nets.

Of course I don't need reminding about things like that. I am well aware that if I have just one more fall during my recovery process it could quite easily destroy my chances of going to the Olympics for good.