After two disappointments, a bout of illness and a frustrating wait, Melissa Perrine's promising PyeongChang campaign has led to her first Winter Paralympics medal.
The alpine skier on Tuesday claimed bronze in the vision-impaired super-combine, Australia's second medal of the Games.
The 30-year-old sat 5.66 seconds (factored) behind in sixth after the super-G stage of the race but produced a clinical slalom run to shave off the required time to reach the podium.
The third skier to finish, she was in gold medal position for most of the second stage before Henrieta Farkasova of Slovakia and Great Britain's Menna FitzPatrick overtook her on the final two runs to win gold and silver respectively.
The tension to see if she had hung on was almost too much for Perrine.
"She was nervous, saying how much she hated this," coach and sighted guide Christian Geiger said.
"I told her she should have skied faster in the first run."
Perrine, who has congenital vision-impairments and manages epilepsy, produced the fastest slalom time (55.32 secs) in the 11-woman field.
It's her first medal in three Games, following promising results at Vancouver 2010 with a series of non-finishes in Sochi four years ago.
Her form leading to the Games was excellent, claiming medals in her previous four World Cup events.
But she registered fifth placings in the downhill and super-G on the first two days of competition, the latter achieved while battling illness.
"The start of the day I felt about a million times better than I did at the start of the super-G," Perrine said.
"I knew I was in a good place physically and I knew, seeing the course this morning, it was a course suited me a little bit more.
"I was able to put together a good run. I've just been content all day and it's just turned into a bit of elation basically.
"Throughout my career I think I've experienced every high and every low that you can get up until now. And this is a massive high."
Geiger, who led Jess Gallagher to bronze in the giant slalom in Sochi, said Perrine had overcome a lot.
"I'm just incredibly proud of her," he said.
"The other day in super-G, when she was in a really bad place and I was thinking about pulling her.
"Beyond proud of everything she's been through in life and everything she's done and the last four years, how hard she's work.
"Could not be happier."
Perrine's result comes a day after Simon Patmore won gold in the snowboard cross to already ensure the Australian team eclipsed their performance in Sochi where they claimed two bronze medals.
Meanwhile, Australian Mitch Gourley was unable to make the most of being in bronze position after his super-G run, finishing fifth.
Mark Soyer (men's sitting) recorded a DNF on his second run, while Jonty O'Callaghan (men's standing) and Sam Tait (men's sitting) failed to finish their first runs.
Tori Pendergast (women's sitting) pulled out of the slalom component to due illness.
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