An Australian mogul skier has received a late Olympic call-up after Russia and France passed up chances to send their own athlete.
Mogul skier Rohan Chapman-Davies is in the team headed for PyeongChang after a quota position allocated to Russia and then offered to France landed in Australian hands.
His inclusion means Australia will have a full eight-athlete moguls team for the first time and takes the full squad to 51.
It's only the second time the nation has had more than 50 competitors at the Winter Games after a 60-member team attended Sochi in 2014.
The 27-year-old Sydneysider says he will forever remember being told of his selection.
"By pure chance I happened to be with my parents at the time," he said.
"My parents were overwhelmed while I was left speechless."
Chapman-Davies placed 15th in his world championship debut last year before a training crash left him in need of a shoulder reconstruction and rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, the Olympic medal chances of Australian snowboarder Scotty James have received a huge boost after a silver medal in the Winter X Games.
A history-making halfpipe run from teenager Ayumu Hirano was all that could beat the world champion's technical feat of 98 in the men's superpipe in Aspen, Colorado.
The Japanese star was rewarded with a near-perfect 99 for landing consecutive 1440s (quadruple spins) in a halfpipe competition.
"This is psycho. It's never been done anywhere on earth," Canadian snowboarder Craig McMorris told ESPN.
James's score would have won him X Games gold in any of the past five superpipe competitions at Aspen and was eight points better than his gold medal-winning effort from last year's event.
It's the second time in a fortnight that James has been relegated to second place by phenomenal runs after Shaun White scored a perfect 100 in the World Cup.
