The kangaroos were bouncing and the sun beamed down. If she squinted a little (a lot) then Josie Baff may have just thought she was in her birthplace of Cooma, New South Wales, when she struck gold at Milano Cortina.
Never mind that the sun was reflecting off the pearly white snow in Livigno and the kangaroos were inflatable, held aloft by fans. The 23-year-old looked right at home as she stormed to victory in the women’s snowboard cross, claiming her first Olympic medal and marking the first time since Vancouver 2010 that Australia had celebrated two gold medals at a single Winter Games.
After battling through qualifying on the winding 1.1km course in the Italian Alps, Baff sat in second for much of the proceedings. But midway through the women’s cross final, where the four best snowboarders fly side-by-side down a swirling course, she made her move.
She surged ahead and crossed the line just 0.04sec clear of the Czech Republic’s Eva Adamczykova, who added silver to her glittering Olympic collection after gold at Sochi 2014 and bronze at Pyeongchang 2018. Bronze went to Italy’s Michela Moioli, sending the home crowd into raptures. Baff’s win came hot on the heels of her fellow Australian Cooper Woods, who struck gold 24 hours earlier in the men’s moguls. “Seeing [Woods win] yesterday definitely sparked a little fire in me,” said Baff. “I thought: if he can do it, I can do it too.”
Under sunny skies, Baff jumped up and down on the podium as the anthem played. “To have my name called out and the national anthem played is truly crazy,” she said “I would like to say that I can’t believe it but I kind of can. I feel like I deserve it.”
Despite finishing 17th in the seedings, Baff grew more confident as the pressure built through each heat. “Each round that I make it through, I get less and less nervous,” Baff said. “Even though the pressure theoretically should be getting more and more, I trust myself more and more. I just knew, from no matter what position that I was in out of the start, that I could make a pass and that I had the skills.
“I haven’t won in a very long time, and to win here at this event and have one of the world’s most sought-after gold medals around my neck is absolutely incredible, and I wouldn’t change anything for the world.”
Baff revealed she had suffered from the flu earlier in the week, but still managed to outperform racers who had beaten her for gold in the past, including Czech star Eva Adamczykova and reigning world champion Michela Moioli.
While Australia celebrated, it was disappointment for Great Britain’s Charlotte Bankes. The former world champion exited in the quarter-finals after a tough draw that included both Baff and Adamczykova. “I messed up,” admitted a crestfallen Bankes. “Today is nothing to do with injuries. It’s just a disappointing performance from me and I’m just sorry to everybody watching.” She will now regroup for the mixed team event.
Elsewhere, Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria and Canada’s Eliot Grondin repeated as gold and silver medalists in men’s snowboardcross from four years before. Grondin is also the boyfriend of Josie Baff.
In biathlon, Quentin Fillon Maillet of France delivered a masterclass in precision and pace to seize gold in the men’s 10km sprint, clocking 22min 53.1sec with a perfect 10 shots out of 10.
As it stands
Norway leads the medal count with 10 gold, 3 silver, and 7 bronze, for a total of 20. Italy is second with 6 gold, 3 silver, and 9 bronze, totaling 18. The United States is third with 5 gold, 8 silver, and 4 bronze, for a total of 17. Australia currently has 3 gold, 1 silver, and 0 bronze, for a total of 4. Great Britain has 1 gold, 0 silver, and 0 bronze, for a total of 1.
Picture of the day
Further reading from the Guardian
What to look out for today
Times are all in local time in Milan and Cortina. For Sydney it is +10 hours, for London it is -1 hour, for New York it is -6 hours and San Francisco it is -9 hours.
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Freestyle skiing – 11.46am: dual moguls makes its debut at the Olympics.
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Cross-country skiing – 12pm: in the women’s 4×7.5km relay, two skiers compete in classic technique (along the tracks) while their teammates race the free technique (lateral movements relative to the direction of travel).
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Alpine skiing – 1.30pm: Marco Odermatt of Switzerland has won a silver and bronze in Italy so far. Can he take gold in the men’s giant slalom?
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Biathlon – 2.45pm: France’s Julia Simon is in action in the women’s 7.5km sprint.
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Ice hockey – 12.10pm, 4.40pm, 9.10pm: men’s preliminary rounds continue before the women’s quarter-finals, with Canada facing Germany and Finland taking on Switzerland.
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Speed skating – 5pm: Team USA’s Jordan Pride is the favourite in the men’s 500m.
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Skeleton – 7.35pm: Austria’s Janine Flock leads the standings after a strong showing in the first two heats.
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Ski jumping – 7.57pm: Austria’s Stefan Kraft has the most World Cup points in history but a medal still alludes him in the men’s large hill individual.
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Short track speed skating – 10.42pm: Great Britain’s Niall Treacy competes in the men’s 1500m.
The last word
Hopefully Bad Bunny’s watching me at the Games. I hope the whole island’s watching – Kellie Delka is Puerto Rico’s sole athlete at Milano Cortina, having moved to the US territory eight years ago after being recruited by the winter sports federation. The 38-year-old competed in skeleton on Friday and will do so again today.
