BELLE BROCKHOFF
Olympic Winter Games Attended
BIOGRAPHY
Skiing since she was three, Belle Brockhoff took up snowboarding at age ten and three weeks after first trying the sport, won her first interschool national title.
Brockhoff has a rich history of winter sports in her family. Her uncle, Peter Brockhoff competed in Alpine Skiing at the 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics, her grandfather Harold Brockhoff was one of the original pioneers of Mt Buller and her great aunt, Joyce Brockhoff has a run named in her honour at Mt Hotham, Victoria in recognition of her work promoting the involvement of women in snow sports. Brockhoff trained and competed in a number of snowboard disciplines, competing on the World Cup circuit in Parallel Giant Slalom, before settling on Snowboard Cross for her first World Cup circuit in 2012/13. Fast forward to the 2016/17 season and Brockhoff was a force to reckoned with, having won two World Cups (Montafon, Austria and Bansko, Bulgaria) plus a silver at Feldberg, Germany. She finished overall third in the World Cup standings – despite dealing with a knee injury toward the end of the season. Her rise through the ranks to the top of her sport began in the 2012/13 season when Brockhoff made history as the first Australian woman to win a Snowboard Cross World Cup medal after taking the bronze in Montafon, Austria. By the conclusion of that season, she was ninth overall on the World Cup standings and had placed sixth at the Olympic Test Event in Sochi in early 2013. Competing at her first Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, Brockhoff achieved the highest placing of the Australian Snowboard Cross athletes, finishing eighth. In 2014-2015, Brockhoff had a strong, consistent season, reaching the semi-final in each event entered, culminating with an overall fifth place world ranking. Her leading results were fourth at the X-Games in Aspen, USA, and World Cup in La Molina, Spain. Brockhoff made history becoming the first Australian female to win a Snowboard Cross World Cup at the final event of the 2015/16 season (March 20,2016) in Baqueira Beret, Spain – joining team mate Alex “Chumpy” Pullin who won the Men’s World Cup, thus creating an historic double Gold for Australia. Her podium blitz continued in the 2016/17 season, riding to an opening gold in Montafon in December 2016, another gold in Bansko, Bulgaria in February and silver in Feldberg, Germany. Brockhoff contested her second Olympics at the PyeongChang 2018 Games without an ACL, finishing eleventh in the women's Snowboard Cross finals at Phoenix Snow Park less than two months after undergoing serious knee surgery. Despite crashing in the semi-final, the dual Olympian dusted herself off and made her way back to the top of the mountain to compete in the event's Small Final (a ranking round for athletes placed seventh to 12th). In 2018-2019, Brockhoff completed a full northern winter of on-snow training as she progressed in her knee rehabilitation from the post ACL revision surgery. Brockhoff made a spectacular return to competition in the opening World Cup of the 2019/2020 season, winning bronze in Montafon, Austria. She continued her podium form throughout the season, taking home five medals from the six events on the tour, highlighted by a World Cup victory in Big White, Canada. Brockhoff finished the season ranked second in the world. Brockhoff's awe inspiring comeback season was recognised at the 2020 Snow Australia Awards, taking out the outstanding achievement award. The 2020-2021 was a frustrating year for the Snowboard Cross athletes with many events either cancelled or rescheduled. The highlight was teaming up with Jarryd Hughes to win Australia's first ever gold meda in the team event at the 2021 World Championships in Idre Fjäll, Sweden. The team event will be making its debut at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Brockhoff was unlucky not to walk away with two medals at the World Championships, just missing the podium in fourth place in the individual event. Brockhoff has been one of the most consistent riders so far in the 2021-2022 World Cup season, reaching the semi final round in all events competed in and is ranked in the top three on the standings. Podium results have come in World Cup events in Montafon, Austria (silver), and Cervinia, Italy (bronze). The 2021 World Championship gold medal team of Brockhoff with Jarryd Hughes reunited at the only snowboard cross mixed team event of the World Cup season in Montafon, Austria, just missing the podium in fourth place. Competing in her third Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China, Brockhoff performed well advancing through in the top-two in all rounds to reach the big final medal round. Unfortunately a podium finish wasn't to be for Brockhoff, after having trouble out of the start in the final, finishing the event in fourth place, the highest Australian result in snowboard cross at the games. Brockhoff also teamed up with Cam Bolton for the Olympic debut of mixed team snowboard cross, where they just missed out on a semi final birth finishing in ninth place. In the 2022-2023 season, Brockhoff's best result so far has come at the Cervinia World Cup in Italy, where she narrowly missed the podium with a fourth place finish. In March, Brockhoff will be taking part in her fifth World Championships, which this time will be ran in Bakuriani, Georgia. Q & AProudest moment: Winning my first world cup and sharing that win with Alex Pullin who won the men’s event five mins later.
I began my sport in ... 2003 because I became so attracted to it when watching big mountain films. I then started boardercross in 2012 because I loved hitting features as fast as I could and racing my mates to the bottom of the hill. SBX offered all that to me so I went for it. When I am not training or competing I am: working on my clothing brand ‘Yuzoko' or working on my photography. I enjoy my sport because its fast, adrenaline pumping and a ton of fun. Education: Year 12, Certificate Personal Trainer. Favourite international competition: the FIS world cup tour Favourite Food: sushi Favourite Music: electro, rock and roll Favourite other sport to watch or play: surfing, BMX Favourite sporting team: Women’s Carlton Football team My hero is my mum Sponsors: Mark Adams Real Estate, bolle, Oxess snowboards, xtm, xion pg, Reebok, Gopro Childhood Ambition: To win gold at the Games and be the best in SBX LINKSOWIA News Search: Additional Links:
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