France's Tifany Huot-Marchand is targeting a third Winter Olympic appearance in short track speed skating at Milan Cortina 2026, months after warnings she may not walk again because of an accident in competition ©Getty Images

French short track speed skater Tifany Huot-Marchand has targeted a place at the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo after a horrific spinal cord injury in competition last year.

The former women's 3,000 metres relay European champion and World Championships silver medallist fell at the Dutch Open Short Track event in Heerenveen last October and broke her C5 spinal cord, with surgeons fearing she would not be able to walk again.

The 28-year-old Huot-Marchand has now began her rehabilitation process, documenting her progress on Instagram.

She discussed the incident and her rehabilitation with public broadcaster France Info, and outlined her Milan Cortina 2026 hopes.

"Before, I was thinking about getting a medal, now I'm going to do everything to be there and shine at the Milan Games," Huot-Marchand said.

Huot-Marchand acknowledged the incident would "have consequences for life", but wants to resume skating in June with a view to preparing for the 2023-2024 season.

She has previously competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in the women's 500 metres and 1,500m events, and at Beijing 2022 in both of the races as well as the 1,000m and mixed team relay.