FREESTYLE – SKI CROSS: After the high drama of Snowboard Cross at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park earlier this week, Ski Cross gets underway on Thursday, starting with the men’s competition. 

Anton Grimus and Scott Kneller will fly the flag for Australia in the 32-man field.

Kneller’s place at the Sochi Games was in doubt after a serious training crash on 22 December 2013. He spent three days in hospital with concussion and four broken vertebra. Intense treatment and gym work helped him pass a medical test last Monday.

“I’ve come along in leaps and bounds. I’m really happy. My progress has been much quicker than I anticipated. I’m in good shape and making good progress every day,” Kneller said on arrival in Sochi.

“I think that when I first did it I was very much doubtful. I could really move all that well for a couple of weeks. I didn’t think I would get a chance of getting back on snow before the event but when I came back to the AIS they were so confident. I have been taken good care of here. They’ve done their bit and I’ve busted my butt to make it happen.

“The Olympics are all about overcoming adversity and making memories and doing something memorable. Just to have the opportunity to get back to the Games and relive that experience that I had in 2010 and go on the world stage and do my thing, that’s a huge achievement in itself.”

Kneller was outstanding at the Vancouver 2010 Games on Cypress Mountain when he placed seventh. He will be hoping his Olympic luck returns four years on but he does not have high expectations.

“I pretty much go to Sochi without no expectations except to do my best and enjoy the experience. I’m still hungry and I want a medal more than anything but I’m also about enjoying the experience.

“I’m not going to do myself any favours by putting myself under any pressure to have to win a medal because I have gone through quite a lot to get myself there. I’m of the opinion that I should go and enjoy it.

“It hasn’t been an ideal lead up but at the end of the day, I’ve been skiing all my life and six weeks off snow is not going to deter my ability or deter me from winning.

“I just need to get there and trust my ability and hope for the best.”

Anton Grimus will be looking to his teammate for guidance as his makes his Olympic debut. Growing up in Mt Buller, he’s spent most of his life surrounded by snow, but only recently turned his focus from university studies to gaining Olympic selection.

Since the start of the year, the 23-year-old has had three top 20 placings in World Cup competition and came 8th at the Sochi test event last year, held on the Rosa Khutor course.

The field will be without defending Olympic Champion Michael Schmid from Switzerland, who hurt his knee during training on Saturday and was forced to pull out of the event.

"The risk is simply too great. I have been looking forward to the race here, and now I am tremendously disappointed that I won't be in it," said Schmid, who’s been struggling with various injuries since grabbing gold at Vancouver 2010. 

The big and technical course will suit most of the skiers, with large jumps leading into complex rhythm sections, and boasting a couple of features not seen anywhere on the World Cup tour.

Sweden’s Victor Oehling Norberg is the hot favourite to take out gold.

"The course is really big, but I really like these big courses," he said after training earlier this week. 

"It's good for me. The jumps are big but I'm good at absorbing, so I don't mind going fast into them. I think it's going to be good. I'm confident. It's going to be a fun race."

The 23-year-old has just 32 World Cup starts under his belt, with his only victory coming in Sochi, at a test event on the Rosa Khutor course. Since then he has earned four podium finishes, including three this season.

Ski cross is easily the most unpredictable of any freestyle event; in the current world cup season six different men have earned victories and 13 different athletes have been on the podium in the seven races held so far.

Alex Fiva (SUI), David Duncan (CAN), Daniel Bohnacker (GER), Vancouver 2010 silver medallist Andreas Matt (AUT) and others all have multiple podiums this season.

It is the second time Ski Cross has been held at the Winter Olympics. The men’s event gets underway with a seeding time trial at 11.45am Sochi time (6.45pm AEDT) on Thursday. All skiers then battle to be in the top two of each of the head-to-head finals, consisting 1/8 finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finally the final, in which medals are decided.