The 2026 Winter Olympics are officially underway in Italy, and while snow-dusted peaks and ice rinks aren’t the most obvious proving grounds for Australian athletes, a new generation is showing that Aussie grit travels well — even on ice.
This year’s Games open with momentum to spare, buoyed by an exciting opening ceremony that saw performers including Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli take to the stage.
Carey delivered a swoon-worthy medley of the Italian classic “Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)” and her own “Nothing Is Impossible,” dressed in custom Roberto Cavalli for the iconic Italian spectacle.
From seasoned Olympians chasing career-defining moments to breakout teenagers stepping onto the world stage for the first time, Australia’s Milano-Cortina squad shapes up as one of its most compelling yet.
As the road to the podium continues to unfold, these are the Australian athletes to have firmly on your radar.
Jakara Anthony
At 27, Anthony arrives in Italy as the reigning world No. 1, carrying a résumé that has reshaped what Australian winter sport looks like on the global stage. With 26 World Cup gold medals and seven Crystal Globes to her name, awarded to the season’s highest points scorer in each discipline, her dominance has already been firmly established.
Raised in Barwon Heads, Victoria, she learned her craft on the moguls at Mount Buller, debuting on the World Cup circuit at just 15. Her 2024 campaign was historic, with 14 wins from 16 starts and three Crystal Globes in a single, era defining season.
For the uninitiated, moguls are the snow bump courses that form when skiers repeatedly carve the same slope. Each turn builds small mounds and troughs that transform the run into a technical, high impact challenge.
The defending champion placed eighth in the women’s moguls super final after a slip disrupted her second run at the Winter Olympics.
Anthony had led the standings after the opening run, but faltered in her follow-up in Livigno. Teammate Charlotte Wilson finished sixth, while American skier Elizabeth Lemley claimed gold.
Later in the week, Anthony found her footing again. Returning with composure, she claimed gold in the women’s dual moguls, securing her second Olympic title and helping make Milano Cortina Australia’s most successful Winter Games to date.
Emily Arthur
At 26, Emily Arthur arrived in Livigno for her third Olympic campaign with clarity and courage, knowing this was not a moment for caution. The Sydney snowboarder opened unsteadily in the women’s halfpipe qualifiers, coming down on her first hit, then reset for a high-risk second run that spoke to experience earned over three Games.
Chasing finals rather than familiarity, Arthur sent her signature backside 900, a decision made months earlier and executed with intent.
The landing did not hold, and she finished 24th, but the choice to go big reflected an athlete unwilling to settle for the comfortable middle ground. A World Cup regular and two-time Olympian, Arthur debuted at PyeongChang 2018 with an 11th-place finish, followed by 14th in Beijing.
Since then, she has posted a career-best ninth at the 2023 World Championships and multiple top-10 World Cup results, cementing her status among Australia’s most reliable halfpipe contenders.
Tess Coady
Tess Coady made history at Beijing 2022, becoming Australia’s youngest Winter Olympic medallist with a sensational bronze in snowboard slopestyle.
Raised between Melbourne and the mountains, she discovered snowboarding at just nine and was quickly hooked. In Beijing, she delivered one of Australia’s standout Olympic moments, landing an 84.15 final run to secure slopestyle bronze. She later revealed she had competed through a small ankle fracture, underscoring the grit behind her podium finish.
At this years’ Olympics, she has surged into the top 10 in the women’s Olympic big air final, finishing seventh. It is the best result ever recorded by an Australian in the event, improving on her ninth place at Beijing 2022.
Later in the week, the women’s slopestyle event was brought forward by 24 hours as a blizzard loomed over Livigno. Coady was unable to land a clean run, finishing 27th in a field of 30 despite posting her best score of the two attempts.
Holly Harris
23-year-old Holly Harris is an Australian ice dancer who made her Olympic debut at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games alongside partner Jason Chan, securing Australia’s first ice dance Olympic qualification since 2014.
Born in Sydney, Harris first rose through the ranks as a singles skater, winning the Australian junior title in 2016 and reaching the free skate at the World Junior Championships the following year.
Those formative seasons sharpened her musicality and skating quality, but a series of head knocks led her to step back from the physical toll of heavy jump loads. That shift ultimately steered her toward ice dance.
In 2019, Harris teamed up with Canadian skater Jason Chan and relocated to Montreal to train at the world renowned Ice Academy of Montreal under coaches Marie France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haguenauer. The partnership found its footing quickly, with a national title in their first season together and steady upward momentum on the international circuit.
After narrowly missing qualification for Beijing 2022, the pair regrouped and rebuilt, with their persistence paying off in 2025, when they earned Australia’s Olympic quota.
At Milano Cortina, Harris and Chan have just placed 18th in the Rhythm Dance, advancing into the top 20 to qualify for the Free Dance, a milestone moment in Australia’s ice dance resurgence.
Indra Brown
Sixteen-year-old freeski halfpipe sensation Indra Brown will make her Olympic debut at Milano Cortina 2026 as the youngest member of the Australian team and the current world number one.
The Melbourne-born skier made history in her debut World Cup season, becoming the youngest Australian to claim a Winter World Cup medal, before backing it up with gold in Calgary and silver at the X Games. Known for her fearless style and steely composure under pressure, Brown heads into the Games as one of Australia’s most compelling medal prospects.
On Thursday night (AEDT), Indra placed fourth in the seven metre halfpipe with a score of 87.5, securing her spot in the women’s freeski halfpipe final.
Breeana Walker
Bobsleigh pilot Bree Walker headed into her second Olympic Winter Games in peak form.
The 33-year-old from Cairns arrives at Milano Cortina 2026 after a standout World Cup season that included three victories and a runner-up finish on the overall monobob standings. Fourth in the world championships and fifth at Beijing 2022, Walker is firmly in podium contention in the monobob, while also set to compete in the two-woman event with brakewoman Desi Johnson.
A former elite 400m hurdler, Walker switched to bobsleigh in 2016 after injury derailed her athletics career, rising rapidly to become Australia’s most successful sliding athlete to date.
Walker ended up finishing eighth, admitting she was “obviously disappointed with the result, especially after the season I’ve had.” Se added that Cortina presented a very different challenge to November’s World Cup course. “It’s a completely different track. I struggled to adapt to it, unfortunately.”
Josie Baff
Raised in Jindabyne by a family of lifelong skiers and snowboarders, Josie Baff grew up on snow, swapping skis for a board at five.
A Youth Olympic gold medallist and World Cup winner, she has since become one of Australia’s most consistent snowboard cross contenders, collecting nine World Cup podiums and a World Championships silver by 21.
At this year’s Winter Olympics, she surged through the heats to claim gold, becoming Australia’s eighth Winter Olympic champion and the nation’s first women’s snowboard cross medallist.
After a shaky time trial, she delivered when it mattered, overtaking reigning champions in a decisive final run. “I knew I could do it,” she said, crediting years of sacrifice and her team’s belief.
