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In brief
- An emotional Scott described winning silver as the “best day of my life”.
- She delivered the best performance of the day in the first final, scoring a career high 117.19.
Last month, Danielle Scott, an Australian freestyle skier, told her family and friends to hold off on their plans to attend the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. She was feeling uncertain about her performance prospects.
As a result, aside from her husband Clark, none of Scott’s close ones were present in Livigno to witness her fulfill a lifelong ambition. On Wednesday, the four-time Olympian finally secured a medal.
Scott, overwhelmed with emotion, described her silver medal victory as the “best day of my life.” This achievement comes after struggling to replicate her success from World Cup and world championship events on the Olympic stage, where her highest finish had been ninth place.
“To finally have this medal around my neck, it’s taken four Olympics,” the 35-year-old expressed. “It’s been an incredible journey filled with frustrations, many highs, and lows, but today, I gave it my all.”
“I put everything out there,” she added. “I executed my jumps as I envisioned, and this achievement means the world to me.”
“I thought I was prepared for these moments but the last two Olympics I walked away heartbroken and I just told myself I wasn’t prepared to walk away heartbroken again.”
After competing at two World Cup events in Canada in early January and placing 19th and 20th, Scott said she was in a “really difficult place”, and decided to ban her biggest fans from the Games.
“I told all my family and friends that they couldn’t come to the Olympics, they’d booked their tickets and it was really heartbreaking to say that because I just was feeling the pressure and I just needed to focus on myself.”
Australia’s top medal hope, two-time world champion Laura Peel, had missed the event after rupturing her ACL in a pre-Games training fall, but Scott stepped up at the Livigno Snow Park.
She delivered the best performance of the day in the first final, scoring a career high 117.19, which was superior to the eventual winning score of gold medallist Xu Mengtao.
The Games were the first time she’d attempted a triple-twisting triple in competition in three years, but with five of the six Super finalists doing the trick, she had no choice.
The Australian couldn’t quite replicate her very best in the high-pressure medal round, brushing her hands on her landing to score 102.17, with defending champion Xu nailing her effort for a score of 112.90.
Three Chinese skiers filled the top four positions alongside Scott, who has been a longtime friend — and rival — with Xu, also 35.
“I am frustrated that I didn’t keep my hands from picking up that loose change and maybe could have meant that I got the gold, but that’s okay — this means everything to me and I’m so proud.”
Her medal came 24 years to the day after Alisa Camplin became Australia’s first Winter Olympics female gold medallist, winning the event at the Salt Lake City Olympics, with the team chef de mission now watching on in Italy and the pair embracing in celebration.
“It’s been 12 years of coming in with the Olympic dream and now finally she does the most beautiful jumps of her life so I couldn’t have been more happy for her,” Camplin said.
Scott’s silver brings this year’s record medal haul for Australia to six — three gold, two silver and a bronze.
Australian Abbey Willcox also made the top-12 first final before bowing out, while Airleigh Frigo and rookie Sidney Stephens didn’t make the cut.
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