Britt Cox is Australia’s best gold medal hope at PyeongChang
THE journey started with a toddler on plastic skis bumbling along lino floors pleading “take me out skiing’’.
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THE journey started with a toddler on plastic skis bumbling along lino floors pleading “take me out skiing’’.
And all these years later it might well reach a glorious crescendo on the Olympic medal dais in PyeongChang, South Korea, next week.
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Britt Cox, 23, is considered Australia’s best chance for an Olympic gold medal when she competes in the mogul event, a supremely challenging format which includes heaving stressed turns, aerial and technical skills plus raw speed.
But the snow is her second home and her life’s journey has literally been a mountain climb towards the challenge that awaits her.
“I was on skis pretty much as soon as I could walk as a toddler,’’ she said.
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“I consider myself very lucky to grow up in Falls Creek, Victoria. My parents managed accommodation on the mountain. I was able to go to primary school up there and for us the big sport was skiing and every day after school I would go straight out until the lifts closed at the end of the day. I look back and think ‘what an awesome childhood’.’’
The seminal moment in her early journey towards the Games came when she was eight and had a chance meeting with 2002 Olympic gold medallist Alisa Camplin.
“I remember watching her compete in the Salt Lake City Games of 2002. It was an incredible experience. I was lucky enough to see her jumping on the aerial side of Mt Buller when I was up there for a competition,” Cox said..
“I waited at the top of the lifts for her. I had just competed in an inter-school competition and I took my results up for her. She took the time out of training to talk to me and sign it for me.
“As an eight-year-old, I was just so excited. I still have her autograph.’’
The pressure of being Australia’s best chance after a year in which she won seven World Cup events and a world champions may challenge some but Cox asks “what position would you rather be in?’’.
She has been to two Olympics, including the first as a 15-year-old in Vancouver when she was the youngest competitor there and rightly feeling like the wide-eyed innocent she was.
“I can’t believe it was eight years ago. I qualified for that Games three weeks before them. I had no idea I would be there,” Cox said.
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“It was my first World Cup competition and the last Olympic qualifier. I look back now and that experience was awesome. It gave me an appreciation of what you need to compete at the top level.
“Coming out of last year I was so excited to get my first World Cup win and after the season I watched all my videos and I saw things in my runs which I can improve on.
“I had this image in my mind of how I wanted to ski this year and that had been my motivating force in trying.’’
Originally published as Britt Cox is Australia’s best gold medal hope at PyeongChang