Like all good legacies, the beginning can be traced back to a moment – Australian Kirstie Marshall competing in her first international aerial skiing competition in the 80s.

As Marshall pushed the sport forward, becoming the first woman to perform two twisting summersaults and the first Australian Winter World Champion, she changed Alisa Camplin’s life.

“I would never have even started the sport if I hadn’t seen Kirstie Marshall qualify for the final in first place at the Lillehammer Games. To me that was everything: see it, believe it, do it,” Camplin said.

“Kirstie made me think it was not just possible to participate in the sport, but to get to the very top if I was actually good enough and worked hard enough. That planted the seed for me having the biggest Olympic dream I could possibly have, and to keep persevering through the toughest times.”

Camplin had tried lots of sports but never a Winter sport - at 19, she could not even ski.

Fast forward three decades and Camplin, is the 2026 Australian Winter Olympic Team Chef de Mission, with an Olympic Gold and Bronze medal that inspired most of the 2026 aerialist to try the sport.

“We've had this great lineage in aerial skiing because none of us believed we couldn't do it,” Marshall said.

“Once I had done it, everybody went: well, if she's done it, I can do it! Our Australian aerialists have that constant, consistent positivity that they can do it- and we lead the world in that way.”

Camplin won Australia’s first gold on snow at Salt Lake City in 2002. It was an enthralling era with fellow Aussies Jacqui Cooper and Lydia Lassila all World No.1 at different times.

By Torino 2006 Australia had three women among the best in the world in one “epic” field, with Camplin claiming the bronze medal.

“It reminds me about what type of Games we're going to have in Milano Cortina,” Cooper said.

With Australia on top of the aerials world, Cooper embarked on a recruitment drive while sidelined with an injury in 2008.

She was instructed to find 12 gymnasts to try to mould into the next Champion. Cooper returned with just three: Scott, Laura Peel and Samantha Wells.

"I said: I promise you, with these three, you don't need 12!" Cooper said knowingly (all three would become Olympians).

Lassila winning the 2010 Olympic gold medal in Vancouver was a poignant moment in this aerials story. The newly discovered Scott and Peel were emerging development athletes, Lassila was thriving and Cooper was bowing out.

"There was a handover- it was like the passing of a baton," Cooper said.

When Lassila went on to win bronze in Sochi four years later, a young Peel took it all in.

"I was able to learn a lot from Lydia. I saw her on snow, I saw her approach and I learned a lot from her and I feel very lucky for that,” Peel said of her teammate and now friend.

“I think Lydia's a really powerful woman, she knows what she wants and she goes and gets it.”

Peel was poised to chase her first Olympic podium in Milano Cortina, but injury ruled her out and made way for Sidney Stephens to make her debut.

Amid all of that strong female energy was Dave Morris, Australia’s lone male aerialist who won silver at Sochi 2014.

“Lydia was a role model for a lot of people,” Morris said.

“She inspired me. I watched her training, and I was just blown away by her, and I wanted to be as good as her and as cool as her!”

Morris started out being recruited by Kirstie Marshall. She and Australia’s first Olympic aerial skier, Nagano 1998 Olympian Jonathan Sweet were Morris' first coaches.

"Kirstie Marshall and Jono Sweet were crucial to my career. They volunteered their time to help me learn the basics and get my foot in the door,” Morris said.

“Without Kirstie I would not have been allowed to join the Team. I would not have made three Olympics, and I would not have an Olympic medal. I think that it’s no overstatement to say that I owe my whole career to her and her efforts. I wouldn’t have been given a start. I wouldn’t have had this life-changing experience of being able to represent Australia at the pinnacle of sporting events. Kirstie sparked and fuelled my entire journey.”

Morris's stunning start in men's Aerials

“The history of aerial skiing in Australia is pretty incredible,” Scott said.

“We've had so much success, right from Kirstie Marshall, Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila, Jacqui Cooper through to our current generation. And David Morris- including his silver medal in that mix is pretty massive from Australia being the underdogs.”

One of the keys to Australia’s success has been a keen sense of innovation in creating or sourcing the best facilities and coaches.

“That doesn't happen by accident. If you rewind the clock on our 30-year history, it happens because of the people, the work, the dedication, the passion and the investment. We're here, and we're proud because of the work that's been done in the past," Cooper said.

In the late 80s, brothers Tim and Roland Skate built Australia’s water ramp in Lilydale, Victoria. At the time it was ‘state of the art’. But the purpose-built freestyle skiing training facility is far from glamorous- a mass of concrete and steel which flings athletes into a muddy pond. But it served its purpose for aerials at the time- and is still a development mogul facility for emerging skiers.

“That's the foundation of my career and I think it's that toughness training and just that edge that we need as Aussies coming into a winter world,” Scott said.

Aussies would often train in the winters of both hemispheres, as well as the "mud season"- doing water ramp jumps in September and October at Lilydale, until the Geoff Henke Water Ramp was built in Brisbane. The game-changing collaboration between the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA), the Federal Government, the Queensland Government, and the Australian Olympic Committee outclassed any water ramp on the world stage.

Since 2021 Australia’s aerial and mogul skiers have trained among the gumtrees on their terms- not relying on favours from other countries. There are no more leeches to contend with either.

“The Geoff Henke water ramp up in Brisbane has been huge for my career. It's a game changer really. I think it's extended the life of my career, being able to train on home soil,” Scott said.

Progressing facilities, equipment and coaching is one thing, but this has been underscored by the hidden thread of support among these legacy athletes.

Scott and Peel were Lassila’s roommates as development athletes 14 years ago.

“I've witnessed them grow into these incredible athletes and amazing performers who are paving the way for future generations as well," 2010 Olympic Champion Lassila said.

“I love watching them. I just love seeing them jump. I love seeing them perform.”

Lassila is a hybrid friend/ mentor/ inspiration to Peel and Scott- and she’s not the only one paying it forward. Along the journey these legacy athletes gave them their warmer gloves, taught them how to wax their skis, hold their skis or find new boots.

There are five Australians representing Australia at Milano Cortina 2026: Danielle Scott, Reilly Flanagan, Airleigh Frigo, Sidney Stephens and Abbey Willcox.

Scott was discovered by Cooper, with Flanagan’s coach Samantha Wells also recruited by Cooper.

Frigo lists Peel as her inspiration, while Willcox and Scott read Camplin’s book and decided to pursue aerials. Now Camplin leads the 2026 Olympic Winter Team.

“Through the generations we’ve been passing down a culture of desire and high performance know-how and support for one another. It’s something we are incredibly proud of,” Camplin said.

And where did Camplin’s dream begin? Watching Kirstie Marshall make the Olympic final.

If you can see it, you can be it.

Golden History of Aerials