Hot off the back of Scotty James gold medal win at the Aspen X Games yesterday, the Australian Olympic Committee has today announced the 11 person snowboard team for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Get excited as some big veteran names mingle with our latest hopes for medal success across Snowboard Cross, Halfpipe and Slopestyle.
Scotty will be heading to his fourth Olympics, joining just six other Australians who have competed at four Winter Games.
16-year-old Valentino Guseli will make his Olympic debut as Australia’s fifth youngest male Winter Olympian ever, and 22-year-old Emily Arthur will compete at her second Games.
In Snowboard Cross, reigning Olympic silver medallist Jarryd Hughes, Belle Brockhoff and Cam Bolton will all compete at their third Games, Adam Lambert his second, while 2020 Youth Olympic champion Josie Baff and Adam Dickson will make their Olympic debut.
In slopestyle, 23-year-old Matt Cox will make his Olympic debut, while Tess Coady will look to overcome the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic heartbreak, where her Olympic campaign was cruelled by an injury suffered in training before her competition.
21-year-old Coady will head into Beijing full of confidence after winning the most recent Slopestyle World Cup event in Laax Switzerland in mid-January.
“The 2022 Olympic Games means a lot to me, particularly because of my experience at Pyeongchang where I was injured in practice so after all of the hype and hard work, I didn’t get to compete,” Coady said.
“It’s been a long way to get back to full fitness and during that time the girls on the Snowboard Tour have kept on raising the bar in terms of the tricks that are being laid down. This Olympic Games gives me the opportunity to compete with the very best in the world and some of my best mates and the chance to establish myself as a true competitor at the top end of my sport.
“I won’t leave anything in the locker in my bid to put down my best competitive runs and do my country proud. I’m just another Aussie girl from St Kilda in Victoria who has worked hard to get to the point where I have a chance to go to the Olympic Games and if I can do it, I hope other young girls will believe that your dreams are possible if you focus on them.”
Featuring two Pyeongchang Olympic medallists in Hughes and James, and dozens of podiums on the world stage across the team, the snowboarders make a formidable Australian contingent.
“This is a Snowboard team I know Australians will be incredibly proud of,” said Chef de Mission Geoff Lipshut.
“These athletes have performed at the highest level on the world stage and is a great mix of experience and youth.”
“To make just one Olympic Team is a phenomenal achievement. For Scotty to make it to his fourth Olympics and Jarryd, Cam and Belle to reach three Games is a truly special achievement.”
The Snowboard Cross team are finalising preparations for the Games in Austria. The Snowboard Cross mixed relay event will also make its Olympic debut in Beijing, with Jarryd Hughes and Belle Brockhoff the reigning World Champions.
“It’s good to come into a Games feeling really ready for it, I’ve done everything I can to be as best prepared as possible,” Belle Brockhoff said.
“Every race I enter I want to win and that’s what I’m aiming for in Beijing. With mixed team relay I have a chance to chase two gold medals and that’s what I’m going for.
“I haven’t got that World Cup win yet this season, but sometimes not getting the result you want can give you a bit of fire coming into the Games. I’m pumped up for it, more and more fuel to the fire.”
The Snowboard competition will run from 5-15 February, with most events in Genting Snow Park and Big Air held in Shougang, Beijing.
