Tess Coady has completed an amazing comeback from injury, claiming Australia’s first ever World Cup slopestyle gold medal in Seiser Alm, Italy.

The 19-year-old from Melbourne qualified in third place, and in finals stomped a run that saw her do switch bluntslide to regular on the waterfall rail, a perfect skate-style backside lipslide on the down rail out of the butterbox, and a 50-50 backside 180 melon out on the flat rail.

Through the jump line Coady was especially clean, with a switch backside 540, a huge backside 720, and a corked frontside 720 on the final jump to earn a score of 73.48 that would withstand all challengers to come.

“I’m so hyped,” Coady smiled from the finish area before the awards ceremony, “It’s my first slopestyle back since the (PyeongChang 2018) Olympics, where I injured my knee, and I was expecting to come out here and just get some experience doing slopestyle and competing again because it’s been such a long time. I was not expecting to win. It’s amazing.

“I have so much respect for every person that’s gone through a knee injury. It’s such a long process. I had it in my mind that it would be like a year of rehab and I’d be back snowboarding, but the reality for me was that it’s take about two years to get back. There’s a lot of hurdles to get over. But I’m so happy I was able to persist through it all and I’m stoked to be back.”

Coady now has two World Cup medals, with her first podium coming in January 2018 at Snowmass, CO, USA, where she placed third.

Joining Coady on the podium was Katie Ormerod from Great Britain in second place, and Canadian Brooke Voigt in third.

NSWIS rider Matt Cox finished in 45th place in the qualification round, and did not progress through to the final.

The next World Cup slopestyle event will take place in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, on the 21st of March, the venue where Coady won double gold in slopestyle and big air at the World Junior Championships in 2017.

NSWIS Snowboarder Tess Coady has made a successful return to competition, finishing in 11th place at the Big Air World Cup in Modena, Italy.
 
The Modena Big Air was a scaffold ramp setup, with riders getting two jumps in the qualification round, with the highest of the two jumps counting for advancing to the six woman or 10 man final.
 
In her first event back since sustaining a knee injury at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Coady put down her highest scoring jump first up, with a score of 58 points putting her in 11th place.
 
In the men's event, NSWIS rider Matthew Cox was unable to back up his recent breakthrough fifth place finish at the World Cup in Cardona, New Zealand, finishing in 41st place.
 
The next competition on the schedule for Cox is the Big Air event in Beijing, China, with Coady looking at competing in January at the World Cup Slopestyle event in Seiser Aim, Italy.

At the annual and glittering national sporting night of nights in Melbourne, snowboarder Tess Coady was among five of Australia’s most promising athletes to be awarded a Sport Australia Hall of Fame 2019 Scholarship and Mentoring Program scholarship.

17-year-old Coady, a double World Junior Champion in Big Air and Slopestyle in 2017, was cruelly struck down by a training accident at PyeongChang on the eve of her Olympic competition but now sees the past eight months as a ‘blessing in disguise’.

Fresh from the excitement of the Gala evening at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Thursday, October 11, Coady is more energised than ever and looking forward to working with her mentor and Olympic gold medallist, Nick Green OAM from the Oarsome Foursome.  

“Nick is such a legend. I got to meet him a couple of weeks ago. He’s a really cool guy, and he introduced me to some Australian icons at the Gala,” Coady recounted.

“I met Layne Beachley and Wendy Botha, which was sick because they are so cool and super women in surfing. And Shane Gould – that was so great because we’ve been watching Survivor because of Lydia (Lassila).”

“They were all super friendly, down to earth people. Of course, I knew about them, but they wanted to know about me. I had such a great time chatting to them. They were interested to hear from me and really reinforced how beneficial this scholarship is.”

It has been a tough eight months for the Junior World Champion as she struggled to come to terms with a lost Olympic opportunity, yet, as she says, the benefits of this year will stand her in good stead.

“To be honest, it took me a bot of time to see the benefits,” she said of her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in February at PyeongChang.

“It’s been a blessing in disguise. I’ve stepped back and reviewed the past after being forced to take time off and to appreciate everything. Especially as this is my Year 12. What if I’d have been riding at the same time?”

“I have been empowered to go to the gym and that’s been really good.”

With VCE exams beginning at the end of October, Coady is already looking ahead to the northern hemisphere winter – bar the maths exam on her 18th birthday on November 2.  

“From mid-November I will be amping up my intensity in the gym and really trying to do everything I possible can to be strong and confident.”

“It looks like I will back on snow in mid to late January.”

Between final exams and gym, Coady plans to make the most of her scholarship and the mentoring with Nick Green. Mostly, it’s about wisdom – and that’s an uncommon trait for a teenager.

If the reaction to her scholarship is anything to go by and the ethos that is inculcated into our collective national sports psyche that honours the past, celebrating the present and embracing the future – then it is personified in young sports people like Tess Coady.

“I think I’m going to get a lot of wisdom from Nick. He has been to a lot of games, including winters. I really just think from his perspective and his knowledge that he’s going to be able to provide me with some rich technique – the little one percent things that make the difference, the mindset of competition and how he can pass that onto me.”  

SAHOF brings together Australian sporting legends, inducts new members and annually awards ‘the Don’ to an athlete who has surpassed all in their field. This year, that award went to wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley AO, who delivered a memorable acceptance speech. (here)

The scholarship program is designed to help young Australians reach the highest levels of their sport, by providing encouragement and funding over a 14-month period.

The five athletes chosen for 2019 include Olympic snowboarder Tess Coady, Paralympic distance runner Jaryd Clifford, rising rower Giorgia Patten, promising diver Cassiel Rousseau and motor racing prodigy Cameron Shields.

Coady will receive one-on-one personal mentoring from Olympic Rowing gold medallist Nick Green OAM who is a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, plus a $5,000 sporting expenses grant.

She only began competing internationally in 2017, winning the double Junior World titles in big air and slopestyle and was the youngest member to qualify for the for the Australian 2018 Winer Olympic Team. She was also recognised as the NSW Institute of Sport Young Athlete of the Year.  

“It is a great privilege to be able to pass on some of my knowledge to Tess,” Green said. “Having teenage daughters of my own, I know that I will be able to listen to Tess and support and guide her growth as an athlete.”

Ski and Snowboard Australia CEO Michael Kennedy also praised the Melbourne teenager.

"Despite suffering a bitter setback when she injured herself in training at the Olympics in Korea, the manner in which she handled that disappointment and has committed herself to her recovery and to her sport shows exactly the kind of character required to be a champion,” he said.

“We are excited for Tess’s future and particularly the opportunity for her to be mentored by an Australian sporting champion as part of the SAHOF mentor program.

Since the introduction of the Program in 2006, 76 scholarships across 34 sports have been awarded, with 20 past and present scholarship recipients recently represented Australia at the 2018 Winter Olympic & Paralympic Games and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games where past recipients captured six golds, seven silvers and one bronze medal.

Established in 1985, 2018 marked the 34th edition of Australian sport’s night of nights to perpetuate Australia’s rich sporting heritage, whilst promoting the values of courage, sportsmanship, integrity, mateship, persistence, and excellence, all underpinned by generosity, modesty, pride and ambition.

You can follow Tess Coady on Instagram tess_coady or on twitter @Tess_Coady

By Belinda Noonan
OWIA
 

PYEONGCHANG 2018: Tess Coady and Jessica Rich will make their Olympic debuts at PyeongChang 2018 in the snowboard disciplines of slopestyle and big air.

With quota places for snowboard slopestyle and big air being calculated as one event, the duo have the option to compete in both or one discipline.

17-year-old Coady won back-to-back Junior World Championship titles in both slopestyle and big air at the 2017 event in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic and with a current world ranking of 5th in slopestyle and 22nd in big air, will aim to compete in both events in South Korea.

“It feels pretty crazy to think soon I will be able to say that I am an Olympian,” Coady said.

“It has been a dream of mine since a young age to go to the Olympics but I never knew what sport I would go for. If someone told me when I was eight years-old that I would be going to the Olympics at 17 for snowboard slopestyle I would have laughed.”

The rider from St Kilda, Victoria, will make her Games debut fresh off Australia’s first ever slopestyle World Cup medal; bronze from the Snowmass event in January.

Coady is the youngest member of the 2018 Australian Olympic Winter Team and says she looks to the more experienced athletes for guidance.

“Chumpy Pullin has always been someone I have looked up to from a really young age. His mental game is so strong and it shows in his riding, I think he is really hungry for this Olympics,” she said.

“Scotty James is always super fun to watch especially these past two seasons he has been on a roll and his attitude towards competing is really inspiring.

“The Team that is going is a super cool group of people and I think there will be really good vibes and lots of support for everyone competing and I can’t wait.”

27-year-old Rich has been selected in the 2018 Team subject to medical clearance. Rich is bouncing back from a knee injury but is still determined to wear the green and gold on the slopes of Bokwang Phoenix Park, having chosen to focus solely on the slopestyle event.

The Manly-local burst onto the international scene two years ago when she placed eighth at the Olympic Test Event in PyeongChang in February 2016.

After signing her first professional contract with the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia in 2016 she has recorded four top-10 World Cup performances.

The women’s snowboard slopestyle event will be held at Bokwang Phoenix Park with qualification on Day 2 (February 11) and finals on Day 3 (February 13). The big air events will be held at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre with qualifications on Day 10 (February 19) and finals Day 14 (February 23).

Find out more about snowboarding at PyeongChang 2018 HERE.
​
Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au

​Less than a week since claiming Australia’s first Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup medal, PyeongChang hopeful Tess Coady will compete in the season’s last Olympic qualifier at Laax, Switzerland.
 
The Junior Snowboard World Champion started 2018 “with a bang” after taking bronze in Snowmass, Colorado on Friday -- a moment that she said was indescribable.
 
Finishing the day with a best score of 75.43, a mere 01.63 points separated the 17-year-old Victorian high school student and the event’s gold medallist, Kiwi Christy Prior.
 
Current world number one Reira Iwabuchi from Japan finished the day in second with a score of 76.48.
 
Coady, who is now ranked fifth in the discipline, said that she was “feeling pretty good” heading to the Swiss ski resort this week and hoped to replicate another high scoring run.
 
“The last time I was there the course was pretty sweet,” she said.
 
“[It’s] a pretty long course too kind of like this one but yeah, that should be good fun too so just [going to] go and try and get something down there too.”

​The young gun rose to prominence in 2017 after she claimed both the Big Air and Slopestyle Junior World Championships within the space of two days in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic.
 
Fellow Aussie Matthew Cox, who finished in 34th place at Snowmass with a best score of 20.25, won’t be joining Coady in Switzerland.
 
Instead, the 19-year-old will remain in the U.S. and compete at the Mammoth Snowboard Grand Prix in California with qualifications to be held on 18th January.
 
The final Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup before PyeongChang kicks off on Wednesday 17 January, with finals held on Friday. For live results click HERE or follow OWIA on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.
 
David Barden
OWIA

Junior Snowboard World Champion Tess Coady has started the year “with a bang” after taking bronze in the Slopestyle World Cup final in Snowmass, Colorado on Friday.
 
The 17-year-old is the first Australian snowboarder to win a Slopestyle World Cup medal, with Torah Bright previously being the only Aussie medallist in the discipline after taking bronze in the 2013 World Championships.
 
Cody was “so hyped” to finish the day in third place and to step up onto her first World Cup podium.
 
“I can’t even describe it,” she said.
 
“Practice was rough, everyone was knuckling so much so it was really sketchy and then I made a decision to pull out the bottom jump which was pretty good.”
 
After a “pretty mellow” first run, Coady spent most of Friday’s finals in second place before her third run briefly bumped her into the top spot with a best score of 75.43
 
“My second run had some problems with speed because of the wind,” she said.
 
“In my third run I did a trick I haven’t done all season which I was pretty nervous about, I just haven’t had a good chance to do any this year because sometimes my first run’s a bit sketchy but I was STOKED!”
 
Kiwi Christy Prior ultimately ended the day in first place with a score of 77.06, while 16-year-old and current world number one Reira Iwabuchi from Japan finished second with 76.48.
 
Coady, who is still in high-school, only started competing internationally in 2017 and rose to prominence after claiming both the Big Air and Slopestyle Junior World Championships within the space of two days in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic.
 
The young gun, who is now ranked fifth overall in Snowboard Slopestyle, has previously said that a combination of nerves, self-belief and big crowds is the key to getting her “amped up” whenever she competes.
 
With the PyeongChang Winter Olympics just 27-days away Coady now turns her attention to the next World Cup in Laax, Switzerland which will be held from 17 – 19 January.
 
“I’m feeling pretty good,” she said.
 
“The last time I was there the course was pretty sweet, pretty long course too kind of like this one but yeah, that should be good fun too so just [going to] go and try and get something down there too.”

David Barden
​OWIA

Australia’s top female snowboarders have finished within the top 15 of the Halfpipe World Cup following Thursday’s qualification runs at Snowmass, Colorado.
 
However, with only the top eight making it through to finals, Emily Arthur, Torah Bright and Holly Crawford will not be competing on Saturday and will instead turn their focus to the next competition.
 
Arthur, who came to Colorado after securing her best ever World Cup result at China’s Secret Garden in December, finished 12th today with a best score of 60.25.
 
“I was very happy [with] how I performed considering how awful my practice was,” the 18-year-old said.
 
“I was able to somewhat pull something out when it counted and I’m very happy about that! The pipe and the atmosphere was really fun, I was back with all my American friends which definitely upped the vibes.”
 
Fellow Aussie and three-time Olympian Holly Crawford finished in 14th place with a best score of 56.75 while Torah Bright wasn’t far behind, placing 15th with a best score of 55.75.
 
Bright, who like Crawford is hoping to compete in her fourth Winter Olympics, recently stepped up to the podium twice during the North-American Cup circuit in December after making a stunning return to the Snowboard Halfpipe competition.
 
The last chance for Australia’s Halfpipe riders to secure crucial qualification spots for the PyeongChang Games will be at the next World Cup in Laax, Switzerland from the 17 – 20 January.
 
Arthur, however, will not be competing in Switzerland, instead opting to stay at her “home mountain” in Mammoth, California to compete in the Mammoth Grand Prix and spend time testing out new tricks prior to the Winter Games.

“My coach and I thought it would be good to compete there and get some extra training in and not worry about travelling so close to the Olympics,” she said.
 
As for the men, 2017 World Champion Scotty James qualified for the 10-man Halfpipe final on Saturday after placing second in his qualification heat with a score of 88.75.
 
Unfortunately James’ fellow Aussies Kent Callister and Nate Johnstone did not qualify for the finals, with Callister placing 19th following a best run score of 59.25 and Johnstone 36th with 19.00.
 
The halfpipe finals will be broadcast live on Eurosport from 7am AEDT on Sunday morning. For live results click HERE or follow OWIA on Twitter HERE or Facebook HERE.
 
David Barden
OWIA

Touted as likely to be the toughest Big Air World Cup field this season, the women’s Copper Mountain event lived up to predictions with 37 riders, many of whom were from the US and vying for a place on the American Olympic squad.

Just turned 17-year-old Tess Coady, who burst onto the international scene eight months ago winning two Junior Snowboard World Championship titles for Australia in Slopestyle and Big Air, made an exciting start to her Olympic season, placing tenth in the qualifying.

Despite not making the final in such a competitive field, Tess was ‘stoked’ with her result.

“I was very happy to land two solid jumps and particularly happy to score 80 points and finish in the top ten,” she said.

“The vibe on course was intense -  being a US Team qualifying event. All the girls were riding really well and the standard was really high.”

“We had some pretty rough days of practice weather wise which made it hard to get the feel for the jump but on comp day the sun was out and there was no wind and the jump was riding super well,” Coady explained.
 
“I was super stoked to land both of my runs. It was a new trick that I have never done in a competition before (double wildcat) and it helped me break away from the rest of the field a bit.”
 
“All the girls were riding super well in quals and unfortunately my trick wasn't quite enough to get in to finals but I am heading back to Mammoth now to hopefully clean it up a bit.”

NSWIS team-mate Jess Rich, who was coming off seventh and sixth places at two previous World Cups in Europe placed 20th, scoring 60 points.
 
With the Big Air World Cups now completed before the PyeongChang Games in February, Rich and Coady will now turn their attention to Snowboard Slopestyle World Cups in January at Snowmass, USA on January 10 to 12 and then Laax in Switzerland from January 17 to 19.
 
Belinda Noonan
OWIA
 

Junior World Champion Tess Coady has finished 11th at the opening Big Air World Cup of the season in Milan.Building towards what would be her Olympic debut in PyeongChang, the 17-year-old was in seventh after the first round of qualification following a score of 71.25.

Needing to be in the top six to make the final, Coady improved her score to 76.25 but it wasn’t enough to progress as she finished 5.25 points away from the cut-off.

"I was super happy with how I went," Coady said.

"It was a bit challenging as we only had a couple of hours practice on the jump but I was really happy with how it turned out."

World Champion Anna Gasser of Austria claimed the victory in the final ahead of Great Britain’s Katie Ormerod and Switzerland’s Sina Candrian.

On what was her Big Air World Cup debut in Milan, Coady was the youngest in the field and despite not making the final it was a positive result for her having only started competing on the international scene at the start of the year.

"It's super cool to be one of the younger riders out there," Coady continued.

"I hope to improve my riding so I can be making the finals in these big airs in the future."

The young gun rose to prominence by claiming both the Big Air and Slopestyle Junior World Championships in the space of a couple of days in April.

She is now looking forward to the next event on her schedule.

"I am off to Copper (Colarado) for the Big Air next and I would be stoked to get some solid tricks landed and be up in the mix with the top riders."

Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au

SNOWBOARD: At the age of 16, Tess Coady won two Junior Snowboard World Championship titles in Slopestyle and Big Air in April 2017, just two months after she placed sixth in her World Cup debut at Mammoth Mountain.

After placing 11th in the Snowboard Slopestyle and 21st in the Big Air at the 2017 Sierra Nevada World Championships, the youngster cemented herself as an athlete to watch as the push to PyeongChang heats up.

Here are seven things you didn't know about the Victorian snowboarder crowned the 2017 Australian Ski and Snowboard Rising Star of the Year:

1. I have only ever skied once in my life and that was for Interschools cross-country. My team managed to qualify through to nationals where I ended up coming dead last just behind my team mate who came second last. I even managed to fall over the finish line and I had never stood on any form on skis since that day!

2. As kids, my sister and I were Saddle Club tragics and we both had aspirations to be professional horse riders when we grew up.

3. My extended family always host a large Christmas lunch every year and although I spend a lot of time away training and competing I have never missed a Christmas with my family.

4. I am far from musically talented but I love to play ukulele when I’m not travelling.

5. Although I spend most of my year standing on a snowboard when I was a kid most days of my summer were spent at the beach as I spent a lot of time surfing and competing in Surf Life Saving.

6. The first time I caught a chairlift was by accident. After some practice on the magic carpet we were side slipping down Blue Bullet when I lost the rest of my Ski School group, it turns out they walked up the side of the run while I had the luxury of sitting on a chairlift the first time.

7. I am a diehard Richmond Football Club supporter and I was super stoked to watch them win the Grand Final this year!

Tess Coady
olympics.com.au

Weather has played havoc at the US Snowboard and Freeskiing Grand Prix event in Mammoth Mountain, CA, USA, with events shortened or cancelled completely.
 
The US Grand Prix also doubles as a FIS World Cup event counting towards Olympic qualification. Unfortunately, wild weather featuring high winds and snow forced the cancellation of the men’s Slopestyle Skiing event which was to feature Russ Henshaw and Ryley Lucas. The extremely heavy conditions led to the men’s Snowboard Halfpipe and Slopestyle qualification rounds to be abandoned.
 
In total, four top ten performances where achieved by the Australian athletes across three different disciplines.
 
The highlight of the event was 16-year-old NSWIS Snowboarder Tess Coady placing sixth in the slopestyle final in her first ever World Cup. Jess Rich was unable to advance to the eight woman final, finishing in 21st place.
 
VIS 2017 X-Games Gold Medallist Scotty James was the leading Australian male in the men’s Snowboard Halfpipe, finishing in sixth place. NSWIS riders Kent Callister and Nathan Johnstone also had good runs in the difficult conditions placing eighth and eleventh respectively.
 
In the women’s Snowboard Halfpipe, Holly Crawford made a positive start to her first event of the season finishing in eighth place, just missing advancing to the final by two places. Emily Arthur was also in action with a 14th place qualification performance.
 
The Snowboard Halfpipe athletes now head to PyeongChang, Korea, for the Olympic Test Event World Cup, with the Slopestyle Snowboarders and Skiers off to World Cup events in Quebec City, Canada.

IMAGE: Tess Coady in nicer weather conditions at Mammoth at the start of the week! © Tess Coady Instagram