Out of the gate

I grew up in Falls Creek [in Victoria], so my parents are keen skiiers. My whole family skis. They didn’t start skiing until they were a bit older, but my brother and I grew up in Falls Creek and we were skiing from a young age.

I remember chasing him around the mountain after school, and after race club training, we’ll build a little jump off in the trees, or ski little bumps. It definitely was a passion our whole family shared together.

I tried all different skiing disciplines, but it was what I enjoyed most – skiing fast, doing tricks in the air and chasing my brother around. That’s where my passion for moguls came from. I just love the combination of skiing and jumping, and being able to combine them to put down that perfect performance.

Britt Cox gets to know the course at Pyeongchang's Bokwang Phoenix Snow Park, just days ahead of the opening ceremony.

Bumps and jumps

In mogul skiing, what I love is it’s just you and the course. There are a lot of variables with the course and the conditions, and the line that you choose and the tricks that you do. But for me, I love getting to a course and learning about what I need to do to make my skiing work for that course, week to week.

With moguls, the main things that you’re looking for with a skier coming down, it’s a judged sport: 20 percent speed, 20 percent the jumps and tricks, kind of like degree of difficulty in diving, and 60 percent turns technique. You want to see the skier take the most direct line possible down the moguls, with tight feet, really fast and full absorption, and a stable upper body. And the jumps – you want to be jumping as big as you can, but also being formed out and maintaining composure. So you want to ski fast while looking like you have everything in control.

It’s not always in control. Sometimes it’s on the edge, and sometimes you go a little too far over the edge.

Looking out for number one

Going into these Games, having the experience of both Vancouver and Sochi behind me, I’m looking forward to taking what I learned from those Games into this one …

With the four-year gap between Olympic Games, there’s so much that a skier and a competitor can do in that space of time, to learn, grow and improve. Four years is a long time to grow a person as well. I guess it will be a different experience for me going into these Games, as a more seasoned competitor and a person who has matured a bit, as well.

Atop the podium at last year's worlds in Spain. The Winter Olympics next?

Coming away from last season, and the results I had, I know I’m coming into this season as world no.1 and as world champion, so I definitely have a huge target on my back. It’s understandable that people have huge expectations of me, and I have big expectations of the kind of skiing and jumping I want to do this season. I’m looking forward to that challenge, and embracing it.

With the expectations people have of me, I look at it as a compliment, for the results I had last season. That’s nice. I’m hoping to go into this season to build upon it.

Start fast

Women’s moguls is day one of the program … The downside is we won’t get to march in the opening ceremony. But we do have the rest of the Games to enjoy and support the Australian team. That’s been the same for women’s moguls, at least since Torino.

When you train so hard for so many years for your sport, the main focus is on the competition. I guess from a young age, I accepted that’s the program for a women’s mogul skier. I watched the Sochi opening ceremony on my TV in the village.

As told to Jeff Centenera