SERITA Shone is building confidence ahead of her long-awaited return to competitive action at this Saturday’s British Championships in Austria.

The Weymouth bobsleigher fractured her spine in a 70mph training crash at Winterberg in Germany in October 2011 but since then she has fought back to full fitness and is now looking forward to returning to the track as a driver.

Speaking from Igls near Inns-bruck, Shone told Echosport: “We have been out here for over a week now and it is really building up.

“I am learning more and more about how to drive the track and working things out with my brakewoman (Sian Huxtable), so it has been really good.

“We have been doing a track walk and having two runs every day in preparation for Saturday and in many ways it is all a bit of a buzz.

“I am definitely looking forward to it but at the same time I am still learning to get over a few confidence barriers too.

“Different things are making me more nervous than I thought while others are not as bad as I thought, so it is just about learning more about myself and the sport really, and so far it is going well.”

Shone has received incredible support from all her peers in the British set-up since her accident and that is continuing despite the competitive nature of this weekend’s event.

The 23-year-old added: “Everyone is coming together and helping each other, and I think that is the great thing about this sport.

“Everyone knows one another and they are all friendly and supportive.

“There is a great atmosphere and at the end of the day the more experience of the track we get the better we are all going to be.

“We are due to compete on Saturday and at the moment we are just preparing as much as we can ahead of the event.”