CROSS country mountain biker Isla Short has not let two serious accidents get in the way of her ambitions of competition in the 2018 Commonwealth and 2020 Olympic Games.

The 19-year-old from Peeblesshire is well on track having recently returned home from mainland Europe with her first top 20 place in a World Cup.

“I was competing in France and Germany where I had my first two World Cups of the year and I was twenty third in the first one and sixteenth in the second,” she said.

“The European World Cup events pretty much have all the top riders, normally with the World and European champions taking part, so they are the toughest races.”

What makes this result remarkable are the two accidents which reduced the former Peebles Cycling Club member's racing schedule since she first began racing World Cups back in 2013.

“Last year I did one World Cup but then I injured myself in July and didn’t race for the rest of the year,” recalls Isla.

“I crashed when I was out training at a World Cup and fractured my spine and broke my collar bone again, the same injury that I did in 2013 (when she had suffered a collision with a car when out training).

“So, this year was about getting back from last year’s injury and setting a benchmark. I didn’t really have any results from last year so it wasn’t really about improving on last year.

“I was aiming for top 20 finishes so I’m happy with where I finished. I’m doing two more World Cups this summer, in Switzerland in four weeks then the last one in Andora in September.

BA French student at University of Stirling, Isla, is one of 148 students supported by Winning Students, Scotland’s national sports scholarships programme for student athletes.

Through the programme she receives funding support and the academic flexibility required to perform at the highest level in sport and studies.

Students at network colleges and universities benefit from a dedicated co-ordinator to ensure they can balance their studies and sport effectively.

“Being a Winning Student is really helpful in terms of if you need time away and being flexible if I have exams,” said Isla who began studying part time last year, in order to get the right balance with sport.

“The university allow me as much time away as I need as long as I catch up with the work in my own time.

“My Winning Student scholarship helps pay my rent which is amazing because it means I can put my other funds to the side. It’s expensive travelling to racing.”

Everything seems to have been well planned by Isla who has always wanted to study language, and decided it would be French which is the international language for cycling.

And where she plans to be in the future is already mapped out.

“In terms of long term goals, it’s the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018, and the Tokyo Olympics 2020,” she reveals.

“And the European Championships will be in Glasgow in 2018, so that’s obviously a big goal.