Misaki Vaughan

Fast Facts

Sport: Snowboard
Event: Women's Halfpipe
Olympic History: Milano Cortina 2026
Highlights: My career highlight to date is my first World Cup start back in 2023
Year Born: 2005

About Misaki

Misaki Vaughan will compete at the Olympic Winter Games for the first time at Milano Cortina 2026. The Australian snowboard halfpipe rider has progressed through the North American competition system in recent years, and for the past two years has been competing on the World Cup circuit. The month before the Olympics open Misaki equalled her best result when 15th in Calgary. 

Introduced to the mountains through family, Misaki says she began snowboarding at 10 because her parents both rode, and because, as she put it, snowboarders “looked so cool”. Away from competition, she enjoys time on the water wake-surfing and surfing, and her simple reminder to herself is: “It’s not a race, enjoy the moment”.

Educated at Truckee High School in California, Misaki’s pathway has been shaped by regular Northern Hemisphere winters and the depth of U.S.-based events that give developing riders the chance to build competition runs and confidence. Her personal “career highlight to date” was her first World Cup start back in 2024 in Mammoth Mountain in California where she finished 15th, a significant milestone that marked the beginning of her push into elite-level international halfpipe. 

Misaki’s World Cup halfpipe campaign gathered momentum during the 2024/25 season. At Secret Garden in China in December 2024, she placed 23rd in the women’s halfpipe, her first appearance at that venue on the World Cup calendar.  

From there, she continued to gain experience in the deep women’s field: at Aspen in the United States in February 2025, Misaki finished 26th, before recording a 20th-place result at the Calgary World Cup later that month. Each start offered another look at the scoring standard required to break into finals, where the top riders are increasingly combining amplitude with higher-difficulty rotations. 

In March 2025, she raced in the North American Cup at Mammoth Mountain, finishing 14th in the women’s halfpipe. Those results formed part of a busy late-season block leading into her first World Championships experience. 

Named in Australia’s Park & Pipe team for the 2025 World Championships in Engadin, Switzerland, Misaki was identified as a World Championships debutant alongside fellow halfpipe rider Amelie Haskell. In the women’s snowboard halfpipe at Engadin on 29 March 2025, Misaki finished 22nd overall, valuable championship experience in a pressure environment that mirrors the intensity of major multi-sport events. 

During the current 2025/26 World Cup season, Misaki has continued to add starts and build her points profile. At Copper Mountain (Toyota U.S. Grand Prix) on 19 December 2025, she finished 28th in the women’s snowboard halfpipe. She then improved her placing at the next stop in Calgary, finishing 15th. With the Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games approaching in February 2026, the January World Cup block is a key period for athletes pushing for form and consistency, and Misaki’s steady progress across consecutive seasons shows a rider learning quickly at the top level.