Snowboarder Jessica Rich will know if the pain has been worth her while when she begins her delayed Winter Olympics campaign.
The Australian is putting off knee surgery to be in PyeongChang after rupturing her ACL in training last month.
Deemed at too great a risk for last week’s slopestyle, the 27-year-old has been cleared to compete in big air qualification on Monday.
Rich has three World Cup top-10s in the discipline which will make its Olympic debut but she’s tempered her expectations for her first Games.
“It is a significant injury that will require surgery once I have finished my event,” she said.
“It has taken me a few tries at the (medical clearance) test but I’ve finally passed and have a lot of confidence in my knee.
“Obviously my goals have changed after my injury and I’m not as competitive as I would like to be due to all the time I have had off snow.
“My goal now is to land the tricks I do and just to enjoy being at the Olympics.”
Without the injured gold and silver-winner Torah Bright, Australia’s women’s snowboard team is staring down the barrel of its first medal-less Games since 2006.
Also beginning his campaign on Monday is Australia’s only long track speed skater Daniel Greig.
World No.39 Greig will contest the 500m, an event in which he fell in the opening seconds of his race in Sochi 2014 to place 39th.
His best World Cup result in the distance this season was a 20th placing in Germany last month.
Elsewhere, Australia’s Lucas Mata and David Mari will wrap up their two-man bobsleigh campaign with the final two heats.
The country has endured an unsuccessful sliding campaign in PyeongChang, with Alex Ferlazzo (luge), John Farrow and Jaclyn Narracott (skeleton) failing to threaten the top 10.
