Bongiorno hungry for Snowboard Alpine World Cup start

The Winter Olympic qualifying period ramps us this weekend for Snowboard Alpine athletes with the first World Cup in Bannoye, Russia marking the start of their 2021/2022 season.

Snow Australia athletes Millie Bongiorno and Harvey Edmanson will don the green and gold in Russia, which will double as 22-year-old Edmanson’s World Cup debut.

For 24-year-old Bongiorno, this year marks her first full World Cup season as she chases qualification for a debut Olympics at Beijing 2022.

“It’s been a dream of mine, since I was just a kid learning ‘pizza’ and ‘French fries’ in ski school, to represent Australia on a full World Cup tour,” said Bongiorno.

“That same kid inside me hasn’t stopped smiling and dancing in excitement now that dream is a reality this season.

“It really is a huge honor for me to be on the World Cup tour and to represent Australia while I do it. The world cups, to me, just represent all the possibilities ahead of me and remind me that my career has just begun and there are still big things to come.”

With five World Cup events over the next month, Bongiorno and Edmanson have a jam-packed schedule, and Bongiorno’s goal for the upcoming events are clear. 

“My goal is to be consistently within the top 30 at all the races,” she said. “Previous seasons I’ve been outside of that by a whisker. 

“With this as my goal, it would mean I could qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing in February. The Olympic Games have been at the top of my goals list every year since I started snowboarding at age 10.

“I know I have worked hard and I can achieve this goal, it’s been a process but I trust the process and I won’t stop working for it until I can place a great big tick next to this goal.”

The Bannoye course will be a new experience for the Aussie Team, and while Bongiorno said the uncertainties for the course can be challenging, her physical and mental training have prepared her for these situations, plus taking on the challenges with a new teammate is a bonus this season.

“I’ve spent a great deal of time working on mental resilience over the past few months, so even though the idea of being in a foreign country seems daunting, I have never felt more confident in myself and my abilities to get me through it,” she said.

“This year I have a new teammate with me in Harvey. To know I have a friendly face at each race and that we can support one another makes a huge positive impact and I can’t wait to see how we lift each other up and what we can accomplish as a team.”

The Bannoye World Cup runs 11 - 12 December, and you can follow all the action LIVE at snow.org.au/live