Josie Baff

Fast Facts

Sport: Snowboard
Event: Women's Snowboard Cross, Mixed Team Snowboard Cross
Olympic History: Beijing 2022
Highlights: Gold at 2020 Youth Olympics
Coach: Harald Benselin
Year Born: 2003
State Born: NSW

About Josie

Born in Cooma and raised in nearby Jindabyne, Josie Baff grew up in a mountain family that treated winter as a way of life. She first skied at two and strapped into a snowboard at five, following her parents between seasons in the Snowy Mountains, St Moritz and Mammoth as they taught on snow. Those early years bred a love of racing and a comfort with variable conditions that later became a hallmark of her riding.  

Through school Josie split time between alpine skiing and snowboard cross, winning interschool titles in both before choosing the head‑to‑head racing of snowboard cross. A New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship in 2018 helped firm that decision, and by 2019 she was winning the Canadian Junior Nationals and making senior‑level podiums on the Australia–New Zealand Cup and Nor‑Am circuits. 

Her international breakthrough came at the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games, where she became Australia’s first Winter Youth Olympic champion by winning women’s snowboard cross. The same year she joined the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program, paired with swimming great Susie O’Neill. 

Josie made her World Cup debut in 2021 at Bakuriani, placing 15th, and a year later reached her first Olympic Winter Games at Beijing 2022, finishing 18th in the individual event and 13th in the inaugural mixed team event with Adam Lambert. 

The 2022–23 season established her among the world’s elite. She claimed a maiden World Cup victory at Les Deux Alpes in December and closed the campaign third overall. At the 2023 World Championships in Bakuriani she won silver in the individual event, Australia’s best women’s snowboard cross result at that level, and added junior world silver plus team gold later that season. 

Consistency defined 2023–24. Josie finished fourth on the World Cup standings with five podiums, second at Sierra Nevada, and third at Cervinia, Mont‑Sainte‑Anne and both races in Montafon, while continuing to anchor Australia’s rise in the discipline.  

She carried that form into 2024–25, opening with silver in Cervinia in December, then adding silver at Beidahu, China, in February. In Erzurum, Türkiye, she took individual bronze before teaming with Cameron Bolton for Australia’s first World Cup mixed team gold in snowboard cross, edging Great Britain by four‑hundredths of a second. Later in March, Josie partnered Adam Lambert to silver in the Montafon mixed team event. 

At the Engadin 2025 World Championships in St Moritz, Josie advanced to the semi‑finals in the individual event, with Italy’s Michela Moioli taking gold, before teaming with Lambert in the mixed team event where Australia 1 placed sixth. Australia 2 (Mia Clift/Cameron Bolton) won silver, underlining the strength of the national program. Josie closed the 2024–25 season fourth on the overall World Cup standings for the second straight year. 

Away from result lines, Josie’s story remains rooted in family, community and a pathway that has kept her close to home. She continues to work within the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia and New South Wales Institute of Sport set‑ups, guided in recent seasons by coaches including Harald Benselin, and often reflects on how Jindabyne’s weather and terrain shaped the racer she is today. 

With multiple World Cup victories and podiums, a senior world championship silver and mixed team wins to her name before turning 23, Josie has become a powerhouse of Australia’s women’s snowboard cross. The next chapter brings Milano‑Cortina on the horizon and another World Cup campaign, but her approach remains simple: keep learning, keep racing, and keep enjoying the ride.