6 Months on from Milano-Cortina | James Johnstone

Just days out from the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games, James Johnstone was with his family holiday, believing his Olympic debut was still four years away.  But just a few days out, it all changed, overnight. After fellow Australian and four-time Olympian, Cam Bolton, was ruled out through injury, James got the call to fill his place. He was racing, and had just three training runs to learn the course.

For 22 year old James, the experience can only be described as “insane”.

“Insane is sort of the only word I have to describe it. I mean, especially not being selected initially, and then filling in for a teammate, is pretty crazy.

“I went from thinking my Olympic debut was going to be four years away, and then suddenly you’re there competing. I feel like I was almost having an out-of-body experience throughout those four days.”

James finished the race in 24th, a result he’s proud of. After the Olympics, the FIS World Cup Tour continued, and James finished the season in 30th overall, which he says Is  a big step in the right direction and more improvement to come.

“We have a training camp here at Hotham, then we will head to Europe in November.

“Hopefully I’ll be back competing on the World Cup Tour this season and getting some strong results, I’m aiming for a big result at World Champs as well in Montafon, Austria.”

With race day so important to his success, James keeps his pre-race routine pretty simple - a great breakfast and an even better warm-up.

“A good breakfast is non-negotiable, and a good warm up is really it for me. I really like to be fully activated before I get in the gate and on the course.

“I like to stay relaxed. It’s a big part of keeping myself grounded and not getting too overexcited before a race or too nervous.”

For now, James is trying to soak in every experience, and try to learn something from each one. 

“I think the best advice I ever received is you always have to learn.

“When you lose, you learn. When you win, you learn. You have to take everything you can from every single race or training session that you do and just compound everything over all these years.

“Before you know it, you’ve got a body of work behind you that you can fall back on.”

With an Olympic Games start now under his belt, James has his sights set on the up coming  season, ready to build on everything he’s learned, and to move into the Northern Hemisphere season with confidence.