Four years ago Joany Badenhorst was working out to improve the strength in her left leg so she could wear a high-heeled prosthesis to her school formal.

“A snowboarding coach saw me working away,’’ said Badenhorst, who lost her lower left leg in a tractor accident at age 10 on a South African farm.

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“The next day he called me and said, ‘you are female, legless. Do you want to be a snowboarder?’ I thought, why not. I had nothing better to do so went for it.’’

With her new career fast-tracked by the Paralympic snowboarding program, just months later she was on the slopes preparing for her first Winter Paralympics representing her adopted country Australia at the Sochi Games in 2014

But it really was a dream too good to be true for the youngster who had already had to given up a track and field career and miss the London Paralympics due to ongoing issues with her amputation.

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On the day of her first race, during a practice run, Badenhorst crashed.

Her hip collapsed, her knee went, her upper left leg broke and her Paralympics were over.

But right there on the snow, even before being injected with painkillers, Badenhorst vowed she would be back.

“When I woke up I knew what I had to do, what I had to do to get better and stronger to get back on the team and just went out and did it,’’ said Badenhorst, who contests both banked slalom and snowboard cross events and is in Korea this week for the Paralympic test event a year out from the Winter Games.

But the young snowboarder admits her mental recovery took longer than her physical one.

“It took me quite a while to get over the crash. I would just become really anxious, feel really sick and my body would just freeze,’’ she said.

“But we worked though it and I’m completely better now, no longer scared.’’

Badenhorst said while she remembers losing her leg in the tractor accident, it does not haunt her.

“I remember it like it was yesterday but I don’t see it as a terrible event that ruined my life,’’ she said.

“I do remember it though. I heard the pilot tell the medical staff they would be coming in with a dead body.

“I told my aunt that later and they came up and apologised. Maybe that helped me fight back harder. You never know.’’

Badenhorst, who has won two bronze medals in snowboarding events this year, said her goal is to medal in ‎Pyeongchang at the Winter Paralympics next year.

“That’s the goal, that’s the dream,’’ she said. “And this time, there’s no way I’m going to crash.’’