Jarryd Hughes

Fast Facts

Sport: Snowboard
Event: Men's Snowboard Cross
Olympic History: Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022
Highlights: Silver at PyeongChang 2018, 2021 World Mixed Teams Champion, 2016 X Games Champion
Year Born: 1995
State Born: NSW

About Jarryd

orn in Sydney, Jarryd Hughes learned to love speed and race craft early through Interschools competition and quickly rose through the ranks. At 17 he debuted on the World Cup tour at Stoneham, Canada, placing seventh, and the same northern winter he captured silver at the Junior World Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain. 

A month after his 2013 World Championships debut in Stoneham, where he placed 11th, Hughes underwent the first of several knee surgeries before returning for the 2013–14 season. His comeback was emphatic: in December 2013 he claimed a maiden World Cup victory at Lake Louise, Canada. 

Sochi 2014 served as a hard‑earned education. Ranked No.2 on the International Ski Federation standings heading in, Hughes was knocked off balance in a racing incident in the quarter‑finals and finished 17th overall. The disappointment sharpened his resolve. Two years later he won men’s snowboard cross at the Winter X Games in Aspen, becoming the first Australian to win a Winter X Games gold medal. 

Momentum built through the Olympic season. In December 2017 Hughes won a second career World Cup gold in Montafon, Austria. Two months later at PyeongChang he delivered one of Australia’s great Winter Olympic performances, starting brilliantly in the six‑man final and holding his nerve to claim silver behind France’s Pierre Vaultier, Australia’s first Olympic medal in snowboard cross. He was then selected as Australia’s Flag Bearer for the Closing Ceremony, an honour that capped a superb campaign. 

Hughes continued to mix resilience with results. Across 2019–20 he stayed competitive on tour, then made history again at the 2021 World Championships in Idre Fjäll, Sweden, teaming with Belle Brockhoff to win the inaugural mixed team snowboard cross world title, Australia’s first in the event. He and Brockhoff were also a close fourth at the Montafon World Cup mixed team event later that year. 

The lead‑in to Beijing 2022 was rugged. After a training fall at Thredbo during the 2021 Australian winter, he required ankle surgery but still made it to the start line in China. Drawn in a stacked round of 1/8 finals, he was eliminated and classified 29th, far from his ambitions but testament to his willingness to compete through adversity. 

Hughes took the 2022–23 season off from racing, remaining in Australia to train and rebuild for the next cycle. The work paid off. Returning to the World Cup in 2023–24, he produced his first podium in more than six years with a bronze under lights in Cortina d’Ampezzo, his fourth career World Cup podium, behind Canada’s Eliot Grondin and American Jake Vedder. 

He remained on tour into 2024–25, racing World Cups and contributing to the depth of a seasoned Australian snowboard cross squad that also features long‑time teammates Cameron Bolton, Adam Lambert and world champion Brockhoff. Whatever the stop on tour, Hughes’ approach is familiar: a clean start, smart lines and the confidence that sustained him through multiple surgeries and the highs and lows of three Olympic campaigns.