The picturesque Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games have come to a close, with VIS scholarship athletes Scotty James and Danielle Scott contributing to the Australian Olympic Team’s most successful Games in the nation’s history.
Australia will return with three gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze medal, marking the Team’s most successful performance at a Winter Olympics in the nation’s history.
Pulling on the nation’s heartstrings were both emotional silver medals, attributed to halfpipe snowboarder, Scotty James, and aerial skier, Danielle Scott.
James won bronze in PyeongChang, silver in Beijing and now silver in Milano Cortina.
Coming into the Games, he was vocal about his goal to push the sport beyond its limits and claim an Olympic gold medal – the only gold medal which has eluded him so far in his career.
Despite narrowly missing the result he had hoped for, James showed profound humility, perspective and heart in his reflections, winning the hearts of Australian and international fans alike.
“I showed up. I fought. I left absolutely everything out there,” James posted to his own social media.
“Falling short hurts. But there’s humility in it too. Humility in standing in front of the world and saying, ‘I wanted more. I believed I could do it. And this time, I didn’t.’”
“It’s okay to feel the sting. It means you care. It means you dared to want something extraordinary.”
Image: Scotty James holds up the Australian flag after winning silver in the Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe (Credit: AOC / Chris Hocking)
Scott proved why she is one of the best aerialists in the world, executing immaculate full-full-full’s in the Women’s Aerials to take home a personal best and her first medal at her fourth Olympic Games.
Wearing her heart on her sleeve, Scott admitted that she slept with her medal under her pillow the first night after competition.
“Are you kidding me? This has been an absolute whirlwind and I’m just so grateful for all the love and support,” she posted to her Instagram.
To finally have this around my neck, I mean, it’s taken four Olympics and it’s been an incredible ride – a lot of highs, a lot of lows – but today I just put my heart out there, I left everything out there.
Continuing her career-best trajectory, Scott joined forces with debutants Abbey Willcox and Reilly Flanagan in the Mixed Team Aerial event, where she bettered her personal best with a career-high score of 120.20 to claim the top female jump of the competition.
The team delivered sensational performances in the first-ever Olympic Mixed Aerials Team event, qualifying third into the four-team final before ultimately placing fourth.
Scott’s outstanding performances, leadership and embodiment of the Australian Team spirit throughout the Games earned her selection as one of Australia’s flag bearers for the Closing Ceremony.
Image: Danielle Scott (right) was named as Australia’s Closing Ceremony flag bearer alongside teammate and mogul skier, Cooper Woods (AOC / Chris Hocking)
Willcox delivered textbook performances to make her first Olympic final and finish tenth in the Women’s Aerials.
Flanagan landed two strong jumps in the Men’s Aerials, finishing 20th overall.
Fellow Olympic debutants Sidney Stephens and Airleigh Frigo also made their Olympic debut in Women’s Aerials, placing 15th and 22nd respectively in qualification.
The VIS team made up Australia’s largest ever aerial skiing contingent to compete at a Winter Olympic Games, promising to continue the nation’s successful legacy into the next Winter Games in 2030 and beyond.
“This experience has been incredible for me, a lot of learnings… but with these experiences I’ll be able to hopefully grow a lot more and carry on through the next four years,” reflected Flanagan.
Short track speed skater, Brendan Corey, had the most stacked event schedule of all VIS athletes, competing across three distances: 500m, 1000m and 1500m.
A 1500m specialist, Corey powered through the quarterfinals to compete in the semi-final in front of his parents, teammates and Chef de Mission, Alisa Camplin AM.
“That was a special moment to have my parents watching,” he said.
“It felt really good after qualifying for the semi-final to see them waving and to see the Aussie flags in the crowd. It was just a really good feeling and it definitely helped me out on the ice.”
Corey ultimately placed 17th in the 1500m, 26th in the 1000m and 27th in the 500m.
“I know I gave everything I had on the day in each of my events so I can’t be upset with that,” said Corey.
“I went out there and I gave it everything I have. I’m really happy with that.”
Image: Short track speed skater, Brendan Corey, in full flight in Milano Cortina (Getty Images).
VIS alumnus and Olympic champion, Camplin, reflects on the legacy Milano Cortina will leave on the future generations.
“Every day, a new piece of history has been created, and more and more Australia’s looked up, tuned in and hopefully felt inspired too,” she said.
“We really hoped to inspire all Australian’s, but it seems we’ve also taken the world by storm.”
The unique blend of youth and experience from VIS scholarship athletes contributed to the camaraderie and support amongst the Australian Winter Olympic Team.
Their performances on the big stage and their sportsmanship in and outside competition has made Australia – and Victoria – incredibly proud.
