Josie Baff has been left wiping away tears of joy after doubling Australia's gold medal haul by storming to victory in the women's snowboard cross event at Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
The 23-year-old cried and jumped in delight on the podium after becoming the first Australian woman to medal in the event, with her triumph coming less than 24 hours after the shock win by Cooper Woods in the moguls.
It's the first time since 2010 in Vancouver that Australia have celebrated two golds in a Winter Games.
Baff said she was inspired by Woods' triumph, with the pair having been former classmates in Jindabyne over the winter term and also crossing paths in junior surf lifesaving.
Baff's boyfriend, Canadian Eliot Grondin, had also won silver in the men's snowboard cross a day earlier.
"I actually grew up doing surf lifesaving and Cooper was doing that as well so I saw him a lot down in Pambula and I know him and his family super well," Baff said.
"Seeing that yesterday definitely sparked a little fire in me and I thought if he can do it I can do it too."
'I put in a lot of hard work'
Baff was daring in both her semi-final and the four-racer medal race at Livigno Snow Park, as she slipped through on the inside with immaculate overtaking manoeuvres to win both races.
Baff, the world championship runner-up in 2023, also revealed she had suffered from the flu earlier in the week.
She pipped both the racer who beat her for gold three years ago, Czech star Eva Adamczykova, and reigning world champ and 2018 Olympic gold medallist, Italian Michela Moioli, in a thrilling final.
Baff said she felt she earned the win through her hard work since her Beijing disappointment, when she was left in tears after her campaign ended in the opening race.
"It's very amazing — I would like to say that I can't believe it but I kind of can," she said.
"I feel like I deserve it and I put in a lot of hard work so I knew I could do it but to actually have the medal around my neck is very, very cool.
"It's definitely something that I've been working towards for a very long time and my team has been helping me achieve that every step of the way."
Australia's second snowboard cross medal — ever
It was Australia's second ever snowboard cross medal. Jarryd Hughes took silver in the men's race in Pyeongchang in 2018, while Torah Bright is the only other woman to medal in snowboarding, winning two in the halfpipe.
Baff's father Peter coached both Bright and his daughter as a junior.
Baff had arrived in strong form, sitting in the world No. 2 ranking, but she had a slow start to the day and finished only 17th in the seedings.
That meant she raced against new mum Adamczykova, the top seed, all the way through.
"I was definitely disappointed as I knew I was super fast on this track and it was annoying because I wanted to win the time trial but to win the gold medal is even better so I'm super happy," said Baff.
"When I saw I had Eva in a first round it's definitely a tough first heat ... but I knew that it could also wake me up and work in my favour.
"It meant that we were racing from the first round and we were able to lock into that mindset really early on.
Baff showed her class to win her first race and move through to the quarter-finals, where she finished second in a four-race field in a heart-stopping photo finish.
She charged through her semi-final, making a move midway through the final with a superb overtake to nab the gold by 0.04 seconds.
Aussie star misses out on gold
Hours later, Australian snowboard great Scotty James fell short in his quest to complete his Olympic medal collection.
Competing at his fifth Olympics, James became Australia's most decorated winter athlete with three medals, winning another silver after Beijing as well as the bronze he won eight years ago in Pyeongchang.
He was also part of the country's most successful single day, his second place coming shortly after Baff's gold.
But it was mostly disappointment with James shedding tears and being comforted by Australia's canoe great Jessica Fox when she presented his medal.
Leading into the Olympics he had openly declared gold was his "north star".
"It's a bit numb, like I don't really know how to feel," the 31-year-old said.
"The next 24 hours I'll probably have a bit of a cry, but I'll be happy as well because representing the country and winning a medal is unbelievable, and I'm really proud of that."
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