Peel ready to bounce back from Beijing Olympic blow
Melissa Woods |
Arriving in Bejing four years ago as Olympic aerials gold medal favourite and leaving empty-handed, the pain of that missed opportunity hurt more than any missed landing for Laura Peel.
The Australian freestyle skier will line up again in the Milan-Cortina Games, which get underway Friday (local time), and Peel says she has done all she can to secure an elusive medal at her fourth Olympics.
The two-time world champion won World Cup gold in Canada last month and believes she’s nearing her best form.
“I gained a lot of confidence from the good results but I think ultimately leading into the Games I was looking for more of a feeling – I wanted to be feeling confident and consistent, I wanted to be at the top of the hill knowing when I turn my skis that I’m able to execute the jump that I want to do,” the 36-year-old team veteran told AAP.
“I am feeling really close to that and I’m feeling ready. I’m in a good place mentally.”
In 2022 Peel could only watch in envy as China’s Xu Mengtao became Olympic champion, landing a jump that the Australian had conquered many times while Peel had to settle for fifth after failing to stick her landing.
In the month leading into those Games she scored a career-high 118 points for a near-perfect back full-full-full – the same jump as Xu but in freezing conditions at Zhangjiakou she could only manage a score of 78.56.
“I went into Beijing as one of the favourites and was really hoping to finish on the podium and I didn’t, so I think that was more difficult than previous Games for sure,” said Peel, the team flag bearer at the opening ceremony in 2022.
“It took a while to become okay with that but I think about Beijing, I can talk about Beijing and it doesn’t affect me so much now.
“I think I’ve improved a lot since then – my degree of difficulty is similar but I’m a lot more consistent and I think my jumps are a lot better.
“Good or bad it’s part of the story and that is what it is so again I’m just going to embrace the experience from that time and move forward.”
The Canberra product said the standard of women’s aerials had continued to improve but felt her best was good enough to this time take her place on the podium, joining former Australian Olympic aerials greats Jacqui Cooper, Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila.
“My goal going into Livigno is to do my best jumps on the day and if I do those I think I’m in a really good spot to be on that podium,” Peel said.
“Being the Olympic year we’ve seen a lot of women pushing and we’ve seen the degree of difficulty rising and I think we’re going to have a lot of women up there doing triple twisting triples so it’s exciting for the sport.
“I’ve been doing it for a long time so I hope I can lean into my experience with the tricks and I’ll be able to execute the best on the day.”
Australia will have four women competing in the aerials including another four-time Olympian and strong medal contender Danielle Scott, while Airleigh Frigo and Abbey Willcox will make their debuts.
Reilly Flanagan has qualified for a debut in the men’s event, and will partner Peel and Scott in the mixed teams.
AAP
