While temperatures dropped below minus 10 and heavy snow blanketed the mountain, the athletes made the most of their first opportunity to ski the Olympic course.

Brodie Summers, competing at his third Games, said he had a great time at the first Olympic training session. 

“All of us are so excited, inspecting the course everyone just had a huge grin from ear to ear,” Brodie said. 

“The course is fast, it’s tight, but super fun. The jumps have all been made really nicely and the moguls are shaped beautifully.

“A bit of fresh snow on the first day is absolutely perfect after a fresh course build just to smooth out the moguls a little bit, I think we're on for a pretty good week.”

In her fourth Olympic campaign, Britt Cox says this course has given an amazing first impression.

“That was so much fun, I love mogul skiing!” Britt said fresh from the hour-long session.  

“The course was absolutely rippable.

“It’s honestly a dream course to ski right now, fresh snow today is just the icing on the cake. I’m really pumped from this first session, I’m only disappointed we only got an hour on it!” 

Reigning Olympic silver medallist Matt Graham gave his seal of approval. 

“It's so cool being here, having the big stadium and all the big Olympic rings on the course – putting on the Olympic bib and wearing the green and gold is pretty special,” Matt said. 

“That was a really good session. We had blizzard conditions out here today, it was pretty windy up top and a lot of snow coming down. When I’ve competed in China in the past it’s usually sunny and clear skies but today was a bit different – conditions are firm and this bit of fresh snow is really nice.” 

The team continues their preparation ahead of qualifiers starting on Thursday 3 February, with training sessions each day until competition begins.

Read our Beijing 2022 Freestyle Skiing preview here.

Dominic Sullivan