Vanessa Hall  
Editor  

THE AUSTRALIAN Winter Olympic Team has been doing exceptionally well at the games being held in Italy, and at the time of going to print, our Australian team currently sits at number 11 on the medal tally – coming in before winter sports powerhouse Canada even! With three gold, one silver and one bronze so far, this team is our best yet.

Coolum has been getting behind local snowboarder Mela Stalker with watch parties at the Coolum Beach Hotel, and the Rakey Master dedicated a tribute to her along Coolum Beach.

The 22-year-old who calls Coolum home competed in the snowboard big air and snowboard slopestyle events. With origins in skateboarding and BMX, the two winter sports are considered extreme winter sports with big air, a discipline where athletes launch off a massive jump and perform tricks and spins and in slopestyle, athletes compete down a course stacked with structures such as rails and jumps. Both events are judged on the quality and difficulty of their tricks and how clean they are landed.

For first-time Olympian Mela, she came out firing in the big air final, placing tenth out of the 12-strong final and said the night left her more inspired than ever.

“To ride with the best of the best was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I couldn’t put it down, but I’m pretty stoked, it’s been an awesome experience, that’s for sure,” the 22-year-old said.

Mela said the competition was “intense”.

“To be here and watch the girls send it and give it their all has been insane.

“I didn’t think I’d get this far tonight, so I’m pretty happy to be a part of it and really embrace watching everybody and seeing where I can get to.”

Stalker was again in action on Sunday night Queensland time, competing in the qualification round of the women’s slopestyle and whilst she didn’t progress to the final and placed 22nd out of 30, the young Queenslander enjoyed the course and experience.

“Today was an awesome day, I actually enjoyed riding the course today, which has been a struggle all week, so I was pretty happy about that,” Mela said.

Mela tried a different approach and found the sweet spot with a change-up in her run.

“Trying to find a run that I’d be proud of and actually enjoy was the hardest part because these rails are either massive or really chill.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t get me on the right path today, but that’s okay, I enjoyed riding it…. That’s what it’s about, it’s about actually enjoying what we’re doing.”