WINTER OLYMPICS: IRELAND'S first female Winter Olympian Tamsen McGarry adds another notch to her competition belt today when she takes on the Giant Slalom in Alpine skiing.

McGarry said yesterday she's looking forward to the race. "The place that I've trained most [while at the Games] is in Park City. I've seen the piste and it's really, really nice."

The competition takes place at Park City Mountain Resort.

The Giant Slalom is a true test of perfectly timed smooth turns down a winding course, with the skier passing through between 30 and 53 gates.

McGarry is facing about 70 other competitors on the course.

Asked where she thinks she'll place she replies "The most important thing for me is that I get to the bottom and feel that I've skied well, that people can be proud of how I skied, not my time. It's really how I look \ compared to other people."

She explains that, given her high bib number, the course will have lots of ruts in it by the time she gets to take her run.

McGarry competed in the Slalom on Wednesday at nearby Deer Valley, and was pleased with her outing there.

"I placed 35th in bib 68 in horrendous conditions with the top surface braking through to give bad ruts and icy patches which were hard to identify with the poor visibility (snow showers)," she says of the event which involves tight turns through scores of gates.

The slalom demands the best of even the fastest and most agile skiers.

"My agility on the start of both runs was good and also on the first steep of the second run.

"It's hard to show your skill when the course has deteriorated so much. But I don't think it was possible to do much better from my start number."

The Dalkey resident entered her first race at age 11 where her result was good enough to earn her a berth in national level competition.

Just three years later, McGarry placed second in the Small European Nations Cup, capturing Ireland's first international medal in ski racing.

Both her parents, Ian and Jane, are ski instructors and her father is also a well known TV producer in RTE.

The younger McGarry appreciates the support she has received to reach Salt Lake City. "In terms of the Olympics, my parents have really encouraged me to pursue this goal and believe in my ski ability, even when I wasn't performing my best last year due to a back injury which held me back for a few months."