FREESTYLE SKIING: Up and coming moguls skier Madii Himbury had her breakthrough season in 2017.
The Sydney-sider qualified for her first FIS Freestyle World Cup tour this season which saw her compete in 10 events in the space of two months.
After advancing to the World Cup finals in Tazawako and Calgary, Himbury ended the season with her World Championships debut at Sierra Nevada, Spain, where she placed 20th.
But there is no resting for the 23-year-old, who is working towards qualifying for her Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018.
Here are nine things you didn’t know about Madii Himbury:
1. Madii’s first love for sport was in ballet and tap dancing. She started dance as a three-year-old and continued for five years until she decided it was too slow for her and switched to gymnastics. Madii trained and competed at a national level for gymnastics for ten years and now coaches and judges artistic gymnastics and trampolining when she isn’t training.
2. Madii was the second female in Australia to perform a backflip with a full twist on snow. It is still a goal of hers to perform one in competition.
3. The Sydney-sider competed in all skiing and cross country events for Kincoppal-Rose Bay School in Interschools competition from year three onwards. It was at Interschools where she realised her passion for freestyle moguls and begged her mum to join Perisher Winter Sports club in 2007.
4. Madii spent her 21st birthday competing in her first World cup in Deer Valley, where she placed 20th in singles and 8th in duals. That year she was also the first Australian female to podium on the NOR-AM cup.
5. Over Easter the Himbury family head to the Hawksbury River for water sports. Madii’s favourite activity is doubles water skiing with her brother Josh.
6. Every Christmas her family visit her in the Northern Hemisphere and they all dress up in dorky Christmas attire and do activities such as Segway, biathlon or snowmobile tours.
7. She is no stranger to injury, having ruptured both her left and right anterior cruciate ligament in her knees. She has also battled with two fractures in her back.
8. Madii loves animals and has a pug named Ginny.
9. Madii also studies a Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science part-time at the University of Sydney.
Madii Himbury/Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au
