When Freestyle skiing made its debut at the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, in 1988, as a demonstration sport, a young Mark Pigott was in front of the TV watching. Not long after, during the Australian winter, he also got to watch Tarsha Ebbern, Paul Stevens and Kylie Gill practicing pole flip-ups at Merritt’s, in Thredbo. Coming from a skiing family with a background in gymnastics, springboard diving and dance, Pigott immediately decided to embrace the discipline and the rest is history.

With his background, Pigott progressed very quickly. After completing year 12 at Sydney Grammar School, in 1988 he moved to Colorado where he trained and competed in Steamboat for the following five months. At the end of the American winter season, after winning the Rocky Mountain Grand Prix, he was rewarded with his first Australian team selection for the Junior World Championships held in Sweden in April 1989. He placed in the top 8 in Acro-ski and during the long trip home he came to the realisation that he needed to specialise in the discipline (also known as Ski Ballet at the time) if he wanted to compete at the elite level. 

Three years later, in 1992, Pigott made his Olympic debut in Tignes during the Albertville Olympic Winter Games, where Acroski was a demonstration sport for the second and last time. 

Despite his early success, Pigott navigated some moments of self-doubt in his career. During a World Cup event in Breckenridge (USA), he credits Freestyle coach Peter ‘Toppa’ Topalovic for supporting him and restoring his confidence while he was going through a difficult time. Pigott ended up achieving one of his best career results at that event finishing fourth, which at the time was the best result ever achieved by an Australian Freestyle skier in Acroski. That was also the moment when Pigott realised he had earned his World Cup starts and he belonged there with the best in the discipline.  

Pigott competed in over 50 World Cup events and was able to maintain a top-10 ranking for most of his 11-year career. He also represented Australia at five World Championships between 1991 and 1999, reaching the finals in three of them. He finished sixth in the 1999 World Championships, his last ever competition and the sport’s last FIS sanctioned Acroski World Cup event.

After retiring from competitive skiing, Pigott became an active and keen ski patroller in Perisher, a role he has served for over 10 years to date. He also runs his own business, aptly named Freestyle Floor Cleaning.