Abbey's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Freestyle Skiing
Event: Aerials
Olympic History: Milano Cortina 2026
Highlights: Deer Valley 2025 Australian Aerials Team sweep
Year Born: 1996
About Abbey
Abbey Willcox will get to realise her Olympic dream at Milano Cortina 2026. Four years ago, after making a strong recovery from a serious injury, she went agonisingly close to getting a start at the Beijing Games, but Australia didn’t qualify enough spots. She would have another four years of hard work. But in that time she has continued to improve and has achieved two World Cup podiums.
Raised on the New South Wales Central Coast, Abbey came to aerial skiing with a foundation in gymnastics and sports acrobatics, skills that would later underpin her take-off power, body control and in‑air awareness.
After time on the water ramps in Melbourne and Park City, she stepped onto snow and made her international debut in 2016 on the Europa Cup in Ruka. By 2019 she was on the World Cup tour, with an early personal best of 13th in Minsk that season, narrowly missing the 12‑woman final.
Her breakthrough arrived in 2019–20, highlighted by a bronze medal at the Deer Valley World Cup under lights, and a season‑ending ranking inside the world’s top 10. The podium confirmed her as a true contender on the world aerial skiing scene.
The following year brought a setback. After a strong qualifying run in Yaroslavl, Abbey crashed in finals training, required surgery and she returned home to rehabilitate, curtailing her 2020–2021 campaign.
Back on tour during the next season, she posted multiple top‑15 finishes but, crucially, Australia just missed an additional Olympic quota place in women’s aerials, and Abbey was unable to attend the Beijing Games.
She then opted to step away from on‑snow competition in 2023 while maintaining skill work at Brisbane’s Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre. A springboard back to competition followed that September with second place at the Brisbane Water Jump Grand Prix behind teammate Airleigh Frigo.
The 2023–24 season was a real breakout season for Abbey. She returned to the Deer Valley podium with another bronze, sharing the celebrations with silver medallist and teammate Danielle Scott, and then reached the top‑six super final on both days in Lac‑Beauport, finishing fifth each time.
In January 2025 she helped deliver Australia’s first aerial skiing mixed‑team World Cup medal since 2017, combining with Laura Peel and Reilly Flanagan to secure bronze in Lake Placid.
A week later came a moment of team history at Deer Valley. On a night of heavy snow and high pressure, Australians swept the women’s podium for the first time in any FIS Freestyle World Cup event, with Peel winning, Scott second and Abbey taking bronze as Australians filled the top four places. It was Abbey’s third individual World Cup podium and a landmark for the Flying Kangaroos.
Abbey closed the 2024–2025 World Cup run with more consistency: sixth in Almaty and seventh in Livigno, reinforcing her status as a reliable finals performer. She then made her World Championships debut in Engadin, placing 13th.
Preparing for the 2025-26 season and her push for Olympic qualification, she worked hard to sharpen her skills on the water in the domestic off‑season and then travelled to China in September to compete in the 2025 Grand Prix in Qinhuangdao, finishing 13th.
Her best result of the World Cup season came just before Christmas in China, when she placed fifth, and in her final competition before the Games, she was 8th, after qualifying in sixth, at Lake Placid.
A Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship athlete, Abbey finished the season ranked 10th in the world, and set to finally jump at the Olympic Games.
Away from competition, Abbey is based in Brisbane and holds a Bachelor of Business, balancing training with work at the Brisbane Broncos. The blend of elite sport and professional life speaks to the persistence behind her late‑blooming rise in aerials. With a gymnast’s precision and a jumper’s courage, she continues to build her degree of difficulty and consistency.
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