Watching it is mind-boggling. It’s hard to conceive how anyone can learn to perform such stunts.

It’s also hard to believe that our sun-soaked country has a rich history of success in this gravity-defying sport. But we do!

Olympians Kirstie Marshall and Jacqui Cooper set the lofty Australian standards from the 1990s and blazed a formidable trail for future generations of young aerial skiers, both claiming world titles and 80 World Cup medals between them.

Since then, Australia has five world champions in the event and of the 19 medals Australia has won at the Winter Olympics, five have been won by aerial skiers.

Alisa Camplin won Australia's first freestyle skiing Olympic gold in 2002, followed with bronze in Torino 2006. Five-time Olympian Lydia Lassila followed the same gold-bronze streak in Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 respectively.

Albeit Australia's rich aerials history is female dominant, David Morris also claimed the first men's Olympic aerials medal, silver, for Australia at Sochi 2014.

Many an Olympic program would love to have the record of success that aerial skiing has enjoyed.
In World Cup competitions, Australia has won a spectacular 88 gold medals, the fourth-most of any nation behind Canada, China and the United States.

This success is even more impressive given the primitive facilities they used to train in when in Australia.

Most aerial skiers will spend at least half the year at an aquatic training facility - literally a ski jump that leads into a pool, rather than a slope – where they practice their aerial skills until they are confident enough to attempt them on snow.

From the pioneering ‘Flying Kangaroos’ until recently, the athletes used a water jump facility near Lilydale on Melbourne’s outskirts and it was like jumping into a dirty brown farm dam.

In fact, it pretty much was jumping into a dirty brown farm dam.

However, the sport received a huge boost with the opening of the world class Geoff Henke Water Ramp facility located at Brisbane’s Sleeman Sports Centre in late 2020.

The impressive facility allows aerial skiers to train all year round on home soil, keeping them internationally competitive without the tiresome travel. A game changer.

Success clearly breeds success and today’s crop are sustaining the legacy.

Laura Peel and Danielle Scott are the current standouts - Laura is Australia’s first aerial skiing double world champion and current World Cup Crystal Globe winner (overall World Cup winner), while Danielle is a dual World Cup Crystal Globe winner - both are Olympic veterans and eyeing a fourth berth at Milano Cortina next year.

In early February, the Flying Kangaroos completed a remarkable clean sweep of the first four places at a FIS Freestyle World Cup event in Deer Valley – the iconic venue where Alisa famously won her Olympic gold.

Laura claimed top seed ahead of Danielle, and emerging stars Abbey Willcox and Airleigh Frigo were third and fourth respectively.

It was the first time Australia had swept the podium in any winter sport, let alone the top four, and put the world on notice less than a year out from the 2026 Winter Olympics.

So, what’s the key to success in this breath-taking sport? Mindset.

Not a single athlete jumps without fear.

According to Victorian Institute of Sport Performance Psychology Manager, Dan Dymond, the most important thing psychologically is “connecting with your ability to do it, irrespective of the fear - the ability to take yourself to places that your opponent isn't willing to.”

Who wouldn’t be afraid? One mishap - a botched launch, an arm slightly askew, an unexpected tailwind - can have disastrous consequences. Bad conditions, a crash, even seeing someone else fall can get into an athlete’s head, planting seeds of doubt.

Kirstie’s career was interrupted by 12 knee operations; Alisa broke nearly every bone in her body as she climbed through the ranks; Lydia battled excruciating knee injuries to make it to the pinnacle, and while Laura has never broken a bone, she’s had shoulder reconstruction and a couple of ankle surgeries.
Injuries become inevitable, even mainstream, in the world of winter sports.

And yet, in the world’s top ten in aerials, there’s not much of an athletic difference - it’s a mental difference.

“If you can dig deeper, as in lean into what's really hard, more than the person who's competing next to you, you're going to move the probability needle in your direction and have greater chances of success,” Dymond said.

It comes down to putting mind over matter - eliminating negative thoughts, practicing relaxation and breathing techniques, visualisation and envisioning success.

Alisa once said she achieved what she did in sport by “controlling and maximising my mind, as well as my body."

"For me, probably the greatest thing that unlocked my potential was when I started working with a performance psychologist,” Alisa said.

"I was able to acquire tools and techniques that unlocked my mindset and set me up to focus on what I can control and regulate under pressure and find my courage and trust within myself to be the ultimate athlete that I could be."

Lydia’s career was marked by mental resilience which spawned trailblazing achievements.

She overcame a succession of injury problems, including two knee reconstructions, to triumph in Vancouver.

Her daring attempts, like the quad-twisting triple somersault in Sochi 2014, left an indelible mark on the sport, and she made history as the first Australian woman to compete in five Winter Olympics at PyeongChang 2018.

Interestingly, many of Australia’s aerialists who enjoyed success on the snow transferred their passion, resilience and competitive grit into stunningly successful careers off the slopes.

After hanging her one-piece ski suit, Kirstie was successfully elected as a Member of Parliament in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

Jacqui continued to use her skillset and the many tools in her toolbox in every area of her life - she became a successful motivational speaker, a business owner, an author, an entrepreneur and a mum to three children.

Upon retirement Alisa turned to the corporate world and spent 16 years with a multinational technology company in senior roles, held numerous leadership roles in sport, including Chair of the Australian Sports Foundation and Director of the Collingwood Football Club, and was recently named as the first female to lead the country’s Winter Olympic Team as Chef de Mission for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

Lydia’s resilient and entrepreneurial spirit in sport was the foundation for her success beyond the ski suit - in 2007 she founded a now global company that specialises in innovative cold therapy products, and in 2020 launched a sustainable and wellness brand.

Their success was not magic or accidental, it was the result of hard work, dedication and possessing certain personality traits that lend themselves to high achievement.

“When you think about the sport and the type of psychological requirements - more openness to experience, a bit more sensation seeking and more tolerance to anxiety and adrenaline - those kinds of psychological traits are more complimentary to confronting things that are scary, and being open to trying new things,” Dymond said.

“The constant exposure to the adrenaline and the high octane and challenging movements opens their minds to what’s possible and they are more likely to say ‘Yes, I’m going to do this, I'm not actually 100% sure what's going to happen, but I’m going to do this.’ It's that willingness to take a risk.”

In many ways, aerial skiing seems like the ultimate manifestation of intention. 

What you think, you do. What you think, you become.

This ideology may just be on show for all to watch this week. A stacked World Cup season has just come to an end, but at the World Championships in St Mortiz, Switzerland this week five Australians are competing that have all won a World Cup medal this season.

Laura, the recently donned Crystal Globe winner, heads in as number one. Danielle, Airleigh Frigo and World Championships debutant Abbey Willcox will also be chasing the podium.

Reilly Flanagan will also make his World Championships debut in the mixed team event before contesting the individual event.

Photo credit: Chris Hocking / OWIA

With tired bodies on the line, mind over matter may just be the difference between securing a world title or not.

Learn more about the 2025 FIS Freestyle World Championships here. and follow the Australian Team here.

Victorian Institute of Sport