Australia’s 53-strong team is the second largest sent to a Winter Olympics and recent results suggest that will be more than enough to land a record medal haul in Milano Cortina. Five of Australia’s six medallists from the past two Games, including defending moguls champion Jakara Anthony, will return in 2026 and be among at least 10 genuine podium chances.
The Beijing 2022 team secured Australia’s greatest Winter Olympics tally with four medals – one gold, two silver and a bronze – but there are high hopes that record will be shattered after 11 athletes won 26 medals across seven disciplines during the current World Cup season. Here are Australia’s main medal hopes (in alphabetical order) to watch when Milano Cortina 2026 begins on 6 February.
Jakara Anthony
The defending Olympic moguls champion is out to become the first Australian to win successive winter gold medals and arrives in Milano Cortina in white-hot form. Anthony became Australia’s most successful World Cup skier when winning her 26th moguls title with a quick and clean run that included a cork 720 and backflip mute grab at Waterville Valley in January, to make it three wins from the last three events in another dominant season. The 27-year-old has shaken off a broken collarbone sustained in training in December 2024 to again be ranked No 1 in traditional moguls, and will double her medal chances in Italy with the head-to-head race of dual moguls among the new additions to the Olympic program.
Indra Brown
The teenage sensation has only turned 16 in the days before the Milano Cortina opening ceremony but has already put herself firmly in the frame for a podium finish after storming onto the freestyle skiing scene. Brown bagged three freeski halfpipe medals – a gold, silver and bronze – in her first three World Cup events, as well as the No 1 ranking, then added to her medal collection when second behind Great Britain’s reigning world champion Zoe Atkin in the superpipe at the X-Games in Aspen. The Melbourne young gun is one of five teenagers on the Australian team – all females – and while there is reason to believe she can continue her rapid rise in Milano Cortina, China’s dual Olympic champion and one of Brown’s sporting heroes, Eileen Gu, remains the skier to beat.
Tess Coady
Australia’s youngest Winter Olympic medallist claimed a heartwarming bronze in snowboard slopestyle when aged 21 at Beijing 2022, later revealing she had a fractured ankle at the time of her stunning final run. Coady learned about resilience much earlier when an ACL injury sustained while warming up for the slopestyle event at Pyeongchang 2018 ended her debut Olympic campaign before it began. Her career has been a rollercoaster ride since then amid a host of injuries but there are signs that Coady is again hitting her peak in the park and pipe at the right time. The 25-year-old was unlucky to miss the podium when fourth in the X-Games slopestyle in Aspen last week, and kicked off her season when fourth in a World Cup big air competition at Secret Garden. Coady will compete in both slopestyle and big air at Milano Cortina, having previously been a world champion in both events.
Matt Graham
The veteran moguls skier won silver in Pyeongchang but will still be searching for redemption after a horror training injury and fractured collarbone derailed his Olympic hopes four years later while he was reigning World Cup champion. Graham again has strong form behind him after a World Cup moguls gold at Ruka was followed by silver at Val Saint-Come and helped him earn a No 2 ranking heading into Milano Cortina. The 31-year-old will continue to ride the bumps at his fourth Olympics and while there will be stiff competition in the traditional moguls, Graham can turn to a wealth of experience in the dual moguls as the head-to-head race is added to the program for the first time.
Valentino Guseli
The versatile snowboarder was just 16 when he finished sixth in the halfpipe at Beijing 2022 and has since won medals in slopestyle, big air and halfpipe events. After recovering from an ACL injury sustained in December 2024, Guseli set out to become the first men’s snowboarder to compete in all three disciplines at the same Olympics but now has his podium hopes focused on the pipe. The 20-year-old won World Cup halfpipe gold in Calgary in early January and also claimed a pair of bronze and a fourth-place finish during a campaign that has Guseli ranked No 2 and among Australian teammate Scotty James’s main rivals.
Scotty James
The five-time Olympian has hit form at the right time as he seeks to complete the set and add an elusive gold medal to the snowboard halfpipe silver and bronze he won at the past two Games. James took the mantle from all-time great Shaun White for the most X-Games superpipe medals with a ground-breaking run in the final in Aspen last week. The 31-year-old landed a switch backside 1440 – the first time the trick has been pulled off in X-Games history – on his first run of the final, then went even bigger with a switch backside 1440 into a backside 1440 on his third run. James kept a low profile this season while working on new tricks before returning to win the most recent World Cup event in Laax in January. Australia teammate Guseli and an ever-exciting crop of Japanese riders led by injured reigning Olympic champion Ayumu Hirano are among James’s biggest threats.
Adam Lambert
Patience has paid off for the snowboard cross veteran as he broke through for a first World Cup victory on his 75th start, a day after claiming bronze in Dongbeiya, as he continues a steady rise to head to Milano Cortina as the No 1-ranked rider. Lambert is in career-best form for his third Olympic campaign in the chaotic and unpredictable race and the 28-year-old can double his chances of a medal in the mixed team snowboard cross where he has built a strong bond with fellow Jindabyne rider Josie Baff. Jarryd Hughes, a silver medallist four years ago in snowboard cross, will join Lambert in Italy though the 30-year-old has fallen off the pace in recent seasons.
Laura Peel
The aerials veteran will chase a breakthrough Olympic medal at her fourth and, at the the age of 36, likely last Games as Australia boasts two of the leading contenders in the event. Peel has proven herself elsewhere over a long period as a two-time world champion and while finishing a season at the top of the rankings on three occasions, including in 2025. Australia’s 2022 joint-flag bearer dropped to fifth in the rankings during the current season despite winning World Cup gold with a full-full-full triple twisting back somersault in the super-final in Lac-Beauport. With a pair of fifth-place finishes at the past two Olympics and triple‑jumpers in her bag of tricks, Peel can dream of being in contention late in Milano Cortina and perhaps even a fairytale ending.
Danielle Scott
Like her Australian aerials teammate Peel, Scott heads to a fourth Olympics chasing an elusive medal after finding success across the globe including four world championship podium finishes. The 35-year-old hit a career peak across 2023-24 when winning back-to-back aerials crystal globe titles as the No 1 ranked skier across the World Cup season. Scott returned to form with a World Cup gold – her first in almost three years – with a back double full-full while others failed to land triples in tricky conditions, as well as bronze at Lake Placid in the last events heading into Milano-Cortina.
Bree Walker
One of Australia’s strongest gold medal prospects, Walker won five medals across this World Cup monobob season including three gold to be ranked No 2 heading into Milano Cortina. The former hurdler was inspired by Olympic athlete Jana Pittman to turn to bobsleigh but has become a trailblazer herself in one Australia’s lower-profile and lesser-resourced sports. The 33-year-old pilot is now primed to improve on her fifth place in monobob at Beijing 2022 and will also compete in the two-woman with brakewoman Desi Johnson. The American reigning Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries, and Germany’s No 1-ranked Laura Nolte, will be Walker’s main rivals for a spot on the top step of the podium.
