Jessica's Story
Jessica Rich made her Olympic debut in the new Olympic discipline of women's snowboard Big Air at PyeongChang 2018. The Sydney-sider, who originally intended to compete in both slopestyle and Big Air, ruptured her ACL only one month before the Games and was forced to sit out of the snowboard slopestyle but was given medical clearance to compete in Big Air.
Rich was one place shy of qualifying for the final after placing 13th in the qualification runs at PyeongChang; however two clean runs was an impressive performance for the injury recovering Olympic debutant.
The 27-year-old placed seventh in slopestyle at her World Cup debut in 2015. In February 2016, she placed eighth in slopestyle at the Winter Olympic Test Event at Bokwang Park. Following her top-10 performances she signed her first professional contract with the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia. She cracked the top-10 an additional four times before she stepped up to the Olympic stage in February 2018.
Born in Manly, NSW, Rich grew up wanting to be a professional surfer but a week-long school trip to Perisher in 2005 sowed the seed for a career in snowboarding. When she’s not on her board she loves cooking and yoga.
