Australian aerial skiing star Laura Peel’s hopes of finally claiming a Winter Olympics medal have been cast into doubt by a knee injury.
The 36-year-old three-time Olympian had been preparing for the Milan-Cortina Games — which begin on Friday — with the aim of a podium finish after her fifth placing at the 2022 edition in Beijing.
However, Australian team officials said in a statement on Tuesday Peel had been injured in her Olympics warm-up.
“Laura Peel has sustained a knee injury during a pre Games training camp in Airolo, Switzerland,” the statement read.
“Peel sustained the injury yesterday (Monday), upon which she was transferred to Zug in Switzerland for an MRI scan at a sports specialist clinic.
“She has returned to the training camp in Airolo Switzerland where she’ll be treated by the team physio to determine next steps.”
The injury has come at the worst possible time for Peel as she aimed up for a breakthrough medal in Italy.
She arrived in Bejing four years ago as Olympic aerials gold medal favourite but left empty-handed.
In an interview with AAP before her injury, the freestyle skier said she had done all she could to secure an elusive medal at her fourth Olympics.
The dual world champion won World Cup gold in Canada last month and said she felt she was 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,” Peel said.
“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 the Australian had conquered many times while Peel had to settle for fifth after failing to stick her landing.
Peel crashes on her first run during the 2022 Olympic aerials final. (AAP: Dan Himbrechts)
In the month leading into those Games, Peel 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, the Canberra product managed only 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 OK 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, so again I’m just going to embrace the experience from that time and move forward.”
Peel 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,” she 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 had intended to have four women competing in the aerials, with Peel joined by another strong medal contender in Danielle Scott, along with debutants Airleigh Frigo and Abbey Willcox.
Reilly Flanagan has qualified for a debut in the men’s event, and was nominated to partner Peel and Scott in the mixed teams.
The women’s aerials qualification starts on February 17.
AAP
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