1 month ago
11
January 31, 2026 — 5:30am
Five-time Olympian and Australia’s most-decorated female skier Lydia Lassila is making big predictions for the Australian Olympic team heading to Italy for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. At the last Winter Olympics in Beijing the Australian team brought home their biggest-ever haul of four medals, including one gold. This year Lassila has particularly high hopes for the Australian athletes’ podium prospects in freestyle skiing, snowboarding and bobsleigh.
“I think it’s going to be three gold, at least,” says Lassila. “The athletes are ready. They were ready last time as well but sometimes things don’t align. I really do believe that three is the minimum. Previous Olympics, Salt Lake City [in 2002] we won two [gold medals], Vancouver [in 2010] we won two gold. It’s not a massive jump, and our team is way stronger than what it was then, so I’m being conservative. I really do think that’s the minimum, and that’s taking into account some might miss. But some should hit. I would like to see six, you know. That’s not impossible, either.”
Lassila’s career as a freestyle aerial skier began in an unusual way. In 1999, at the age of 17, she became a self-described “guinea pig” for the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia’s new idea to recruit ex-gymnasts and retrain them as aerial skiers. The pilot program was wildly successful and by 2002 Lassila was competing at the Winter Olympics, winning gold in 2010 and bronze in 2014 and earning an induction into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Her story was documented in the 2016 feature documentary The Will to Fly and will also be part of the coming Beyond the Dream: Icebreakers – Chasing Olympic Gold documentary (airing February 3 on Nine).
Since retiring from competition in 2018, Lassila has joined the commentary team covering the Winter Olympics. It’s a role that gives her a lot of joy.
“I love the thrill of the Winter Olympics. They’re a very different atmosphere to the Summer Games,” says Lassila. “The sports are quite risky and dangerous. They are really high-adrenaline sports and I think you can feel that through the television. You can certainly feel it when you’re there on the ground.”
Does commentating make Lassila wish she was back out there on the snow competing? “No, not at all really,” she says, laughing. “I’m happy to watch – my bones ache just watching it. I see it as a really nice chapter that I lived and experienced and loved but it’s not where I’m at at the moment.”
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics is the first to be officially co-hosted by two cities, making it the most geographically spread-out in the history of the event. Lassila is happy to see the Olympics back in the region and thinks there will also be extra excitement this year as the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was heavily impacted by COVID-19.
“It’s really nice to have the Olympics back in the Alps in Europe, it’s been a long time,” says Lassila, who splits her time between Finland and Australia. “Typically the people in the Alpine regions live for winter sport. There’s so much passion there, so the atmosphere is going to be wild. It’s going to be made even more special to have family and friends able to attend. And it’s the Alps, it’s a beautiful part of the world. I would tune in just for the scenery – it’s magical – let alone all the thrills that we’re going to see on the TV as these athletes perform.”
The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 is broadcast from 6.30pm on Saturday, February 7 on Nine.
Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.
