The opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics will be held on Friday night (11pm AEDT) and Australia will have 43 athletes on show over the next 16 days.
The Aussie team will compete across 10 different events, and has 22 females – the strongest female representation Australia has had a Winter Olympics.
Australia has won 15 medals at the Winter Olympics – five of each colour – and hopes are high of a good performance on the artificial snow of Beijing – the first city to host a winter and summer Olympics.
The Games are being shown in Australia on Channel 7 and streamed on 7 Plus.
Beijing will host the ice events (curling, ice hockey and skating) and snowboard and skiing big air events.
Yanqing, a suburban district of Beijing (80km to the northwest) and home to the famous Badaling and Juyongguan stretches of the Great Wall, is to host the alpine skiing and sliding (bobsleigh, skeleton and luge) events.
Zhangjiakou, further to the northwest in the neighbouring Hebei province, will host all the other snow events (snowboard, freestyle skiing, cross country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined and biathlon) in its Chongli district, a popular skiing destination.
Best Aussie chances
On this season’s World Cup form the best chances to add to Australia’s historic medal talley are…
would be (no particular order):
Jakara Anthony (moguls)
Anthony surprisingly finished fourth four years ago as a 19-year-old and has been a podium regular on the World Cup circuit since then, also claiming a world championship silver medal and being ranked No.2 in the world last year.
“I am not feeling a burden of extra expectation at all,” she said.
“The success I’ve had this season is a testament to all the processes I’ve put in place and the training I’ve done prior to getting here to give myself the best opportunity possible to compete and that’s the work I’ve been doing in the gym, in the mental space – all setting me up to succeed.”
She led qualifying late Thursday as the Games started some events early and her final is Sunday night.
Belle Brockhoff and Jarryd Hughes (Boardercross single and mixed team)
Brockhoff suffered a devastating knee injury in the lead up to the Pyeongchang Olympics but made the start line in a great feat of courage and determination.
The 29-year-old is at her third Olympics and along with the individual boardercross event, she will team up with men’s favourite Hughes – who claimed the silver medal in South Korea.
“My first Olympic Games I was a little bit of a Labrador puppy, second Olympic Games you know I had an injury … I learnt a lot from the injury and if I went back in time I wouldn’t change a thing, you know. So yeah, very happy, very excited to be here, just stoked all round,” said Brockhoff on Thursday.
Hughes, who won silver at the 2018 Winter Games in the men’s snowboard cross, is a favourite to win gold this year.
Scotty James (Snowboard halfpipe)
James is perhaps Australia’s best known Winter Olympian in this current crop and he tuned up for the halfpipe by winning the X Games, considered at least an equal to Olympic gold.
The 27-year-old Victorian failed to put down a clean run in the World Cup final in Switzerland a week earlier.
He was Australia’s flagbearer in 2018 and finished third, with US superstar Shaun White, back for a final title at glory, claiming gold with an epic final run.
Tess Coady (SB Slopestyle & Big Air)
Coady suffered a catastrophe four years ago, blowing her knee in the warmup and being unable to take her place in the Games.
“It was earth shattering especially because that injury sucks, but then doing it on the world stage was pretty hectic,” Coady said.
“It got a lot of media attention which was crazy – I’d never experienced that before.
“That was a pretty crazy couple of years, it was a bit of a rollercoaster getting back on track… It was really massive and it taught me a lot about myself, the way I was approaching things and the way I was approaching my snowboarding.”
The 21-year-old has been in strong form this season and eager to make amends.
Laura Peel (aerial skiing)
Peel is the Olympic favourite in a technically tough event, having made a huge statement in the last World Cup before the games at Deer Valley.
During training ahead of that event she became only the third woman ever to land a quadruple twisting triple backflip after Aussie Olympic gold medallist Lydia Lassila and Ashley Caldwell of the US.
Peel is likely to let rip with that jump in Beijing.
Navigate Australia’s Olympic Team by sport
Aerial Skiing | Alpine Skiing | Bobsleigh | Cross Country Skiing | Curling | Figure Skating | | Freeski Big Air | Freeski Slopestyle | Freeski Halfpipe | Luge | | Moguls | Short Track Speed Skating | Skeleton | Ski Cross | Snowboard Big Air | Snowboard Cross | Snowboard Halfpipe | Snowboard Slopestyle
| Time | Aussie contenders | Event | Sunday February 13 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11.00pm | Danielle Scott, Gabi Ash, Laura Peel | Women’s qualification 1 | |
| 11.45pm | Danielle Scott, Gabi Ash, Laura Peel | Women’s qualification 2 | |
| Monday February 14 | |||
| 10.00pm | Danielle Scott, Gabi Ash, Laura Peel | Women’s finals 1 | |
| 11.00pm | Danielle Scott, Gabi Ash, Laura Peel | Women’s finals 2 | |
| Time | Aussie contenders | Event | Monday February 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.15pm | Katie Parker | Women’s Giant Slalom run 1 | |
| 4.45pm | Katie Parker | Women’s Giant Slalom run 2 | |
| Wednesday February 9 | |||
| 1.15pm | Katie Parker | Women’s Slalom run 1 | |
| 4.45pm | Katie Parker | Women’s Slalom run 2 | |
| Friday February 11 | |||
| 2.00pm | Greta Small | Women’s Super G | |
| Saturday February 12 | |||
| 2.00pm | Greta Small | Women’s Downhill | |
| Sunday February 13 | |||
| 1.15pm | Louis Muhlen-Schulte | Men’s Giant Slalom run 1 | |
| 4.45pm | Louis Muhlen-Schulte | Men’s Giant Slalom run 2 | Wednesday February 16 |
| 1.15pm | Louis Muhlen-Schulte | Men’s Slalom run 1 | |
| 4.45pm | Louis Muhlen-Schulte | Men’s Slalom run 2 | Thursday February 17 |
| 1.30pm | Greta Small | Women’s combined downhill | |
| 5.00pm | Greta Small | Women’s combined slalom | |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Sunday February 13 |
|---|---|---|
| 12.30pm | Bree Walker | Women’s monobob heat 1 |
| 2.00pm | Bree Walker | Women’s monobob heat 2 | Monday February 14 |
| 12.30pm | Bree Walker | Women’s monobob heat 3 |
| 2.00pm | Bree Walker | Women’s monobob heat 4 | Friday February 18 |
| 11.00pm | Bree Walker, Kiara Reddingius | 2 woman’s heat 1 |
| 12.30am (+1) | Bree Walker, Kiara Reddingius | 2 woman’s heat 2 | Saturday February 19 |
| 11.00pm | Bree Walker, Kiara Reddingius | 2 woman’s heat 3 |
| 12.30am | Bree Walker, Kiara Reddingius | 2 woman’s heat 4 |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Saturday February 5 |
|---|---|---|
| 6.45pm | Casey Wright, Jessica Yeaton | Women’s skiathlon 7.5km | Sunday February 6 |
| 6.00pm | Phil Bellingham, Steve de Campo | Men’s skiathlon 15km | Tuesday February 8 |
| 7.00pm | Casey Wright, Jessica Yeaton | Women’s sprint free qualification |
| 7.50pm | Phil Bellingham, Seve de Campo, Lars Young Vik, Hugo Hinckfuss | Men’s sprint free qualification |
| 9.30pm | Casey Wright, Jessica Yeaton | Women’s sprint free quarter finals |
| 9.55pm | Phil Bellingham, Seve de Campo, Lars Young Vik, Hugo Hinckfuss | Men’s sprint free quarter finals |
| 10.25pm | Casey Wright, Jessica Yeaton | Women’s sprint free semi finals |
| 10.35pm | Phil Bellingham, Seve de Campo, Lars Young Vik, Hugo Hinckfuss | Men’s sprint free semi finals |
| 10.47pm | Casey Wright, Jessica Yeaton | Women’s sprint free final |
| 11.00pm | Phil Bellingham, Seve de Campo, Lars Young Vik, Hugo Hinckfuss | Men’s sprint free final | Thursday February 10 |
| 6.00pm | Casey Wright, Jessica Yeaton | Women’s 10km classic | Friday February 11 |
| 6.00pm | Phil Bellingham, Seve de Campo, Lars Young Vik, Hugo Hinckfuss | Men’s 15km classic | Wednesday February 16 |
| 8.00pm | Casey Wright, Jessica Yeaton | Women’s team sprint classic semi finals |
| 9.00pm | Phil Bellingham, Seve de Campo, Lars Young Vik, Hugo Hinckfuss | Men’s team sprint classic semi finals |
| 10.00pm | Casey Wright, Jessica Yeaton | Women’s team sprint classic final |
| 10.30pm | Phil Bellingham, Seve de Campo, Lars Young Vik, Hugo Hinckfuss | Men’s team sprint classic final | Saturday February 19 |
| 5.00pm | Phil Bellingham, Seve de Campo | Men’s 50km mass start free | Sunday February 20 |
| 5.30pm | Casey Wright, Jessica Yeaton | Women’s 30km mass start free |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Wednesday February 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 11.05pm | Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill | Australia vs USA session 1 | Thursday February 3 |
| 12.05pm | Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill | Australia vs China session 2 |
| 11.05pm | Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill | Australia vs Czech Republic session 4 | Friday February 4 |
| 12.35pm | Dean Hewitt and Tahil Gill | Australia vs Sweden session 5 |
| 4.35pm | Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill | Australia vs Great Britain session 6 | Saturday February 5 |
| 12.05pm | Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill | Australia vs Norway session 7 |
| 5.05pm | Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill | Australia vs Italy session 8 | Sunday February 6 |
| 5.05pm | Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill | Australia vs Switzerland session 11 |
| 11.05pm | Dean Hewitt and Tahli Gill | Australia vs Canada session 12 | Monday February 7 |
| 11.05pm | TBD | Semi Finals | Tuesday February 8 |
| 5.05pm | TBD | Bronze medal play off |
| 11.05pm | TBD | Gold medal play off |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Tuesday February 8 |
|---|---|---|
| 12.15pm | Kerry Brendan | Men’s single skating short program | Thursday February 10 |
| 12.30pm | Kerry Brendan | Men’s single skating free skating | Tuesday February 15 |
| 9.00pm | Kailani Craine | Women’s single skating short program | Thursday February 17 |
| 9.00pm | Kailani Craine | Women’s single skating free skating |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Monday February 7 |
|---|---|---|
| 12.30pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s qualification 1 |
| 1.15pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s qualification 2 |
| 2:00 PM | Abi Harrigan | Women’s qualification 3 | Tuesday February 8 |
| 1:00 PM | Abi Harrigan | Women’s finals run 1 |
| 1.22pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s finals run 2 |
| 1.45pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s finals run 3 |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Sunday February 13 |
|---|---|---|
| 1:00 PM | Abi Harrigan | Women’s qualification run 1 |
| 2:00 PM | Abi Harrigan | Women’s qualification run 2 | Monday February 14 |
| 12.30pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s final 1 |
| 12.57pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s final 2 |
| 1.24pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s final 3 |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Thursday February 17 |
|---|---|---|
| 12.30pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s qualification run 1 |
| 1.21pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s qualification run 2 | Friday February 18 |
| 12.30pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s final run 1 |
| 12.58pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s final run 2 |
| 1.25pm | Abi Harrigan | Women’s final run 3 |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Saturday February 5 |
|---|---|---|
| 10.10pm | Alex Ferlazzo | Mens singles run 1 |
| 11.50pm | Alex Ferlazzo | Mens singles run 2 | Sunday February 6 |
| 10.30pm | Alex Ferlazzo | Mens singles run 3 |
| 12.15am (+1) | Alex Ferlazzo | Mens singles run 4 |
| Time | Aussie contenders | Event | Thursday February 3 |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 PM | Britt Cox, Jakara Anthony, Sophie Ash, Taylah O’Neill | Women’s qualifications |
| 10.45pm | Brodie Summers, Cooper Woods, James Matheson, Matt Graham | Men’s qualifications | Saturday February 5 |
| 9:00 PM | Brodie Summers, Cooper Woods, James Matheson, Matt Graham | Men’s qualifications 2 |
| 10.35pm | Brodie Summers, Cooper Woods, James Matheson, Matt Graham | Men’s final 1 |
| 11.05pm | Brodie Summers, Cooper Woods, James Matheson, Matt Graham | Men’s final 2 |
| 11.40pm | Brodie Summers, Cooper Woods, James Matheson, Matt Graham | Men’s final 3 | Sunday February 6 |
| 9:00 PM | Britt Cox, Jakara Anthony, Sophie Ash, Taylah O’Neill | Women’s qualifications 2 |
| 10.30pm | Britt Cox, Jakara Anthony, Sophie Ash, Taylah O’Neill | Women’s finals 1 |
| 11.05pm | Britt Cox, Jakara Anthony, Sophie Ash, Taylah O’Neill | Women’s finals 2 |
| 11.40pm | Britt Cox, Jakara Anthony, Sophie Ash, Taylah O’Neill | Women’s finals 3 |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Saturday February 6 |
|---|---|---|
| 10.38pm | Corey Brendan | Mens 1000m heats | Monday February 7 |
| 10.44pm | Corey Brendan | Mens 1000m quarterfinals |
| 11.20pm | Corey Brendan | Mens 1000m semifinals |
| 11.52pm | Corey Brendan | Mens 1000m Final B |
| 11.58pm | Corey Brendan | Mens 1000m Final A | Friday February 11 |
| 10.18pm | Corey Brendan | Mens 500m heats | Sunday February 13 |
| 10.00pm | Corey Brendan | Mens 500m quarterfinals |
| 10.27pm | Corey Brendan | Mens 500m semifinals |
| 11.09pm | Corey Brendan | Mens 500m Final B |
| 11.14pm | Corey Brendan | Mens 500m Final A |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Thursday February 10 |
|---|---|---|
| 12.30pm | Nick Timmings | Mens heat 1 |
| 2.00pm | Nick Timmings | Mens heat 2 | Friday February 11 |
| 12.30pm | Jackie Narracott | Womens heat 1 |
| 2.00pm | Jackie Narracott | Womens heat 2 |
| 11.20pm | Nick Timmings | Mens heat 3 |
| 12.55am (+1) | Nick Timmings | Mens heat 4 | Saturday February 12 |
| 11.20pm | Jackie Narracott | Womens heat 3 |
| 12.55am (+1) | Jackie Narracott | Womens heat 4 |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Thursday February 17 |
|---|---|---|
| 2.30pm | Sami Kennedy-Sim | Women’s ski cross seeding |
| 5:00 PM | Sami Kennedy-Sim | Women’s ski cross 1/8 final |
| 5.35pm | Sami Kennedy-Sim | Women’s ski cross quarter finals |
| 5.54pm | Sami Kennedy-Sim | Women’s ski cross semifinals |
| 6.10pm | Sami Kennedy-Sim | Women’s small final |
| After small final | Sami Kennedy-Sim | Women’s big final |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Monday February 14 |
|---|---|---|
| 12.30pm | Tess Coady | Women’s qualification run 1 |
| 1.15pm | Tess Coady | Women’s qualification run 2 |
| 2.00pm | Tess Coady | Women’s qualification run 3 |
| 4.30pm | Matt Cox | Men’s qualification run 1 |
| 5.15pm | Matt Cox | Men’s qualification run 1 |
| 6.00pm | Matt Cox | Men’s qualification run 1 | Tuesday February 15 |
| 12.30pm | Tess Coady | Women’s final run 1 |
| 12.52pm | Tess Coady | Women’s final run 2 |
| 1.15pm | Tess Coady | Women’s final run 3 |
| 4.00pm | Matt Cox | Men’s final run 1 |
| 4.22pm | Matt Cox | Men’s final run 2 |
| 4.45pm | Matt Cox | Men’s final run 3 |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Wednesday February 9 |
|---|---|---|
| 2.00pm | Belle Brockhoff, Josie Baff | Women’s seeding run 1 |
| 2.55pm | Belle Brockhoff, Josie Baff | Women’s seeding run 2 |
| 5.30pm | Belle Brockhoff, Josie Baff | Women’s 1/8 final |
| 6.07pm | Belle Brockhoff, Josie Baff | Women’s quarter finals |
| 6.28pm | Belle Brockhoff, Josie Baff | Women’s semifinals |
| 6.45pm | Belle Brokchoff, Josie Baff | Women’s small final |
| After small final | Belle Brockhoff, Josie Baff | Women’s big final | Thursday February 10 |
| 2.15pm | Adam Dickson, Adam Lambert, Cam Bolton, Jarryd Hughes | Men’s seeding run 1 |
| 3.10pm | Adam Dickson, Adam Lambert, Cam Bolton, Jarryd Hughes | Men’s seeding run 2 |
| 5.00pm | Adam Dickson, Adam Lambert, Cam Bolton, Jarryd Hughes | Men’s 1/8 finals |
| 5.37pm | Adam Dickson, Adam Lambert, Cam Bolton, Jarryd Hughes | Men’s quarter finals |
| 5.58pm | Adam Dickson, Adam Lambert, Cam Bolton, Jarryd Hughes | Men’s semi finals |
| 6.15pm | Adam Dickson, Adam Lambert, Cam Bolton, Jarryd Hughes | Men’s small final |
| After small final | Adam Dickson, Adam Lambert, Cam Bolton, Jarryd Hughes | Men’s big final | Saturday February 12 |
| 1.00pm | Belle Brockhoff, Jarryd Hughes | Mixed Team quarterfinals |
| 1.30pm | Belle Brockhoff, Jarryd Hughes | Mixed Team semifinals |
| 1.50pm | Belle Brockhoff, Jarryd Hughes | Mixed Team small final |
| After small final | Belle Brockhoff, Jarryd Hughes | Mixed Team big final |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Wednesday February 9 |
|---|---|---|
| 12.30pm | Emily Arthur | Women’s qualification run 1 |
| 1.22pm | Emily Arthur | Women’s qualification run 2 |
| 3.30pm | Scotty James, Valentino Guseli | Men’s qualification run 1 |
| 4.21pm | Scotty James, Valentino Guseli | Men’s qualification run 2 | Thursday February 10 |
| 12.30pm | Emily Arthur | Women’s final run 1 |
| 12.59pm | Emily Arthur | Women’s final run 2 |
| 1.25pm | Emily Arthur | Women’s final run 3 | Friday February 11 |
| 12.30pm | Scotty James, Valentino Guseli | Men’s final run 1 |
| 12.58pm | Scotty James, Valentino Guseli | Men’s final run 2 |
| 1.25pm | Scotty James, Valentino Guseli | Men’s final run 3 |
| Time | Aussie Contenders | Event | Saturday February 5 |
|---|---|---|
| 1.45pm | Tess Coady | Women’s qualification run 1 |
| 2.47pm | Tess Coady | Women’s qualification run 2 | Saturday February 6 |
| 12.30pm | Tess Coady | Women’s final run 1 |
| 12.57pm | Tess Coady | Women’s final run 2 |
| 1.24pm | Tess Coady | Women’s final run 3 |
| 3.30pm | Matt Cox | Men’s qualification run 1 |
| 4.33pm | Matt Cox | Men’s qualification run 2 | Monday February 7 |
| 3.00pm | Matt Cox | Men’s final run 1 |
| 3.27pm | Matt Cox | Men’s final run 2 |
| 3.54pm | Matt Cox | Men’s final run 3 |
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