Katya's Story
Katya Crema made her debut at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, competing in the new Olympic discipline of Ski Cross. Crema, from Mt Buller in Victoria, came to the sport from a background in Alpine Skiing where she had success as a junior. She switched to Ski Cross in the 2007/08 season, lining up in her first World Cup event in January in Les Contamines, France, finishing 18th. She contested three more events for the season, her best result an 11th place in Sierra Nevada, Spain, before injuring her ACL while training in Meiringen, Switzerland in March 2009. She finished the season in 24th place on the World Cup standings despite missing five of the year’s nine races. She qualified a place on the Vancouver 2010 team by making five consecutive finals in the 2010 season, culminating in a 10th placing in Lake Placid. In Vancouver, Crema finished third in the quarter-finals, finishing 15th overall.
Four years later and Crema was the star of the Sochi 2014 Ski Cross team, finishing seventh. Her big moment came in the quarter-finals when she was sitting behind Switzerland’s Sanna Luedi as they approached the last turn. In third place and doubtful to earn a spot in the semis at that stage, Crema saw a small opening and went for it, passing the Swiss and moving into second, which she held to the finish line to be one of two athletes to progress to the next round.
Unfortunately, Crema couldn’t replicate the performance in her semi-final, finishing third and missing the big final where medals were on offer. She then went on to finish third in the small final - seventh overall.
