ABI Davies got more than she bargained for at Christmas as she opened the box on her first call-up to the senior Great Britain team.

The 19-year-old, from Trowbridge, was handed the perfect surprise gift on Christmas Eve as she was named in the GB team for the Europa Cup event in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on January 11-18.

Davies’ international call-up marks a sparkling return from injury for the teenager, who is a student at Southampton Solent University, after she suffered a fractured knee in a car crash last July.

“I’d been out injured for about six months – ironically, (the crash) happened when I was on my way to training and I missed the whole of the outdoor athletics season and a lot of testing,” said Davies, who has been a part of British Bobsleigh’s Futures programme since March 2012 and was an accomplished sprinter.

“On December 23, I went back to testing for the first time and then I got an email on Christmas Eve saying that I was in the squad for the Europa Cup.

“I couldn’t believe it at the time but it’s sunk in a bit more now because I’ve had to buy myself a few thermals and start packing.

“In April I’ll have been doing bobsleigh for three years. I’m only 19, so to get in the proper Great Britain squad already is amazing because everyone else is 20-something.

“I’m going to Dublin for the New Year, so it meant that I had to change my plans and flights around really quickly.

“We leave on January 4 and I think that there are four women in the squad.

“I’ll be going as a brakewoman and I think that the other one has been with the squad before, so they could pick her for the top sled because she has the most experience.

“But it could just come down to how we do in testing when we’re out there – I can’t wait.”