Elsa Desmond: 'I might have to sell my car in the autumn, it'll be worth it'

Desmond has faced obstacles off the luge track that would have cowed most people and brought the love affair with their sport to an end. 

TRAILBLAZER: At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Elsa Desmond became Ireland's first ever luge Olympian. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Elsa Desmond was just eight years old when she turned on the telly and found herself captivated by the sight of people launching themselves down an ice tube at what turned out to be the Winter Olympics in the Italian Alps.

The sport was luge and she was hooked.