For a 16-year-old, Nicole Arthur keeps some impressive, mature company. Though her greatest achievement was in a competition where the upper age limit was 17, she is usually to be found in either under-21 events or those open to anybody. There is really only one female Briton considered better in her sport, and she is 27.

Arthur is the world junior title holder in slalom water skiing, her crown won in Chile in January, meaning some viciously cold afternoons in Scotland by way of preparation. Last month, she set a new British under-21 record while winning gold at the European under-21 championship. Just before that, she was disappointed to finish second in the European junior championship, her silver medal more the product of an increasingly ill wind rather than error on her part.

The Black Loch near Falkirk is aptly named, at least in mid-December, which was when Nicole was training as intensely as conditions would allow to thrust the family name in lights on the other side of the Atlantic. Her father, John, is one of her two coaches. He is a former British junior water ski champion, but is more than happy to concede he never had the talent his daughter possesses.

Grandfather Ian is recognised as having brought water skiing to Scotland, having become a convert during a holiday in the south of France. His next move was to secure the necessary permission to turn the Black Loch into the home of Slamannan Water Ski Club, inevitably Scotland’s first.

“In December, I mostly trained at the weekend, because during the week it was too dark to go out by the time my dad got back from work,” Nicole says. “We had to have buckets of warm water ready to put my feet in after practice. Usually, I’d have to change my suit three times, because the suits that water skiers use take in a bit of water. I’d warm my hands in the warm water produced by the engine of the boat.”

Nicole is a slalom water skier. It’s a simple competition format. The skier is pulled along by a boat travelling down the middle of a course comprising six buoys. In each round, the rope connecting boat and skier is shortened. The shorter the rope, the more difficult it is to criss-cross the wake of the boat and get around the buoy on the other side. The shorter the rope, the more horizontal the body needs to be to get around a buoy.

It is basically a question of last person standing. Nicole is making a habit of standing head and shoulders over all she surveys. For aficionados, she can ski off an 11.25 metre rope; barely half a metre longer than seniors at the top of their game. Her British under-21 record, set last month at Surrey’s Thorpe Park, was one buoy at 11.25 metres. “She started when she was eight and took to it almost immediately,” says her father. “Because she wasn’t strong, she had to develop great technique. She still has that, and great balance. And she is so determined. When she has her goal, she is not easily deflected.”

A place at Stirling University beckons, meaning more training on the Black Loch. Plus easy access to a gym. Being a member of the central area of the Scottish Institute of Sport should mean she can juggle lectures and training without too much difficulty. “I think the Institute will be able to arrange that I take lectures at other times. They help with lots of things, such as my weight-training programme.” Nicole is also supported by sportscotland lottery funding.

The European juniors were her first major competition since the worlds, though she has performed impressively at various invitational events since Chile. “I was expecting to do well, but the weather beat me. I was first after the first round, but I fell early in the second. All I was trying to do was get past five buoys at 30m. It should have been easy, but I fell going around four. I had never done that all this year, but my ski was being bounced about on the waves. Before last weekend, I said I’d be happy with a silver and over the moon with a gold. So you can imagine how I feel having won gold.”

The thrill of winning mirrors the thrills and spills to be had on the water. “It’s the speed that does it for me. Also, at the level I am at, it’s great to be able to visit other countries, to see different cultures.

“Socialising with the other competitors is good too. I prefer being around older people, enjoying their conversation — though I do have a lot of friends my own age too. Skiing-wise, I suppose I look up to those older people and think it’s good to be in their environment.”