In a dramatic final, the 16-year-old from Jindabyne won the gold by only 0.05 seconds over France’s Margaux Herpin.

Baff’s historic win is Australia’s first Winter Youth Olympic gold medal, and Australia’s 7th individual Winter YOG medal (3 silver, 3 bronze from Innsbruck 2012 and Lillehammer 2016). 

Baff said she was “stoked” to win the gold, especially with the challenging round robin format that pushed the riders to their limits. 

“I can’t believe it, it’s very overwhelming, very surreal,” Baff said after her win. 

“I was getting really tired because pumping through five heats is really hard, it’s way more races than I’ve ever done at an event.

“But the round robin format with the point system really separates and rewards the good, consistent riders, because it’s unlikely you’ll get lucky five times.” 

Read more about Baff’s historic victory HERE.

Josie’s teammate, Finn Sadler, also qualified through to the men’s small final, placing 7th overall.  Amber Essex just missed out on a semi-final berth, finishing in 10th place after the women’s heats. 

The snowboard cross team will join the ski cross team for the Team Ski-Snowboard Cross event on Tuesday. 

Sunny Stele made his Youth Olympic debut today in the men’s Snowboard Slopestyle at Leysin Ski Resort on Day 11 of the Games.

He put down a clean opening run, putting 49.00 on the board, but unfortunately fell in his second qualification run, leaving him in 13th place, and one position shy of a place in the finals.

Three Aussies hit the halfpipe in the women’s ski and snowboard competition. Freestyle skier Abi Harrigan unfortunately missed out on a spot in the 8-skier final by one place and one point, finishing 9th with a best run of 52.66

In the snowboard halfpipe, Lily Jekel placed 11th and Alex Chen 13th.

They will all return to Leysin on Day 12, with Steele competing in the men's halfpipe, while the women will context the Big Air qualification rounds.

At Lausanne Skating Arena, short track speed skater Kieran Guan competed in the Men’s 500m.

The event began with eight heats, with the two best skaters of each qualifying to the next round. In his heat, Guan fell, placing him in 4th position, which did not see him advance to the next round.  

“I didn’t expect to make the top two, but I still thought I had a chance of a personal best or maybe even coming third. I was happy I made the pass on the Ukrainian, but after that I fell, so I wasn’t too happy about that,” Guan explained.  

“As I was going around the corner, I stepped on a block and I just slipped out.”