Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/142338
closeup i n Soch watch i s to Aussie Torah Bright Home town: Cooma, NSW Event: Snowboard half-pipe, slopestyle and cross. Image courtesy of Roxy With a Winter Olympic gold medal in her kit bag courtesy of a nerveless halfpipe win in Vancouver three years ago, the amiable Bright has little to prove to the world. But the 26-year-old has never been one to take the easiest path on offer, and she's aiming to sign off on her third Games with a bang by taking on three different disciplines. Slopestyle may not be such a big leap from the 'pipe' – riders tackle a purposebuilt course on which they perform tricks and jumps – but snowboard cross is another world, one in which racing technique and physicality are also key variables. Yet where others see a crazy schedule, the effervescent Coomarite sees only opportunity. "I'm just sharing the love I have for snowboarding," she says. "I love the challenge – and I'm daring myself." Lydia Lassila Home town: Melbourne, Vic Event: Freestyle skiing (aerials) Her sport involves twists, flips and landings that aren't always smooth, and for Lassila, it's also an apt fit for her Olympic career. From the former gymnast's 'just glad to be there' debut in 2002 to her shrill screams after rupturing a knee in 2006 and her epic Winter Games win in the Vancouver fog four years on, Lassila knows a thing or two about highs and lows. With the birth of her first child in 2011, it would have been all too simple for the 31-year-old to pack it in, but after spending half her life in the sport, Lassila isn't ready to ski away just yet. "I didn't obsess about [having two years off] because it was a break and, now that I'm back in it, I realise I haven't missed that much," she says. "[A gold medal] is definitely on the table – it's just a question of whether I can snatch it." 11