Taylah O'Neill

Fast Facts

Sport: Freestyle Skiing
Event: Moguls
Olympic History: Sochi 2014, Beijing 2022
Highlights: Dual Olympian, 13th at 2019 World Championships
Coaches: Pete McNiel, Kate Blamey, Peter Topalovic
Year Born: 1994
State Born: NSW

About Taylah

The breakthrough moment for Taylah O’Neill came during a family trip to Italy while watching events at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics.

“We watched the mogul and figure skating events and I immediately fell in love with the idea of elite sport and the whole atmosphere of the Olympic Games,” Taylah said.

She was competing at the elite level by 2009 and took part in her first World Cup in 2010.

Her dream came a little closer to becoming a reality when Taylah finished 5th at the 2012 FIS (International Ski Federation) World Junior Championships. That put her well on the path to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Taylah made her Olympic debut at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, where she reached the finals and finished in 16th place. 

“The Olympics is something I have dreamed of my entire career, so it really was a dream come true to be able to compete for Australia.”

Injury struck Taylah six months after the Games, as she suffered her first ruptured ACL. What helped her through the rehab process was starting a Bachelor of Media at the University of New South Wales, majoring in Public Relations and Advertising.

Returning to World Cup competition in December 2017, Taylah had her sights set on her second Olympic Games at PyeongChang 2018.

Despite consistent performances across the World Cups leading into the 2018 Games, she was unable to secure her spot on the Australian Olympic Team. 

Taylah bounced back at the February 2019 World Championships, finishing 13th and her path to a second Olympics appearance started to take shape again.

She claimed bronze in the Nor-Am Cup at Apex Mountain, Canada in March 2019 and 6th at Mount Werner, USA a month earlier.

However, Taylah was thrown another major injury hurdle when she crashed while training at Perisher in 2019. What was originally thought to be a torn MCL soon after became the second time she had torn her ACL.

After a gruelling 12-month rehabilitation process, Taylah returned to snow in August 2020. 

Experiencing some pain during training, the 25-year-old went for a precautionary MRI ahead of the 2020-2021 World Cup season.

Injury had struck again, with the scan finding significant bone bruising and cartilage damage, resulting in another 6 months away from the sport. 

Determined to persevere, she held onto her Olympic dream through every setback and made more than 30 World Cup starts in her career. She targeted the end of Beijing 2022 to make her retirement from mogul skiing.

Three years after her last World Cup competition, Taylah made a triumphant return to the world stage in December 2021 at the Ruka World Cup in Finland. 

Taylah ended the 2021 calendar year finishing 18th at Alpe d’Huez, France and 17th in dual moguls. In December she had two additional top-25 results in Idre Fjall, Sweden and Ruka, Finland.

Eight years after her Olympic debut, Taylah completed the long road back when she got to the start gate at Beijing 2022.

Unfortunately, due to the challenges of managing her third ACL and MCL injury sustained during a training run, she was unable to progress through the qualifying rounds and finished in 30th place. 

Geoff Lipshut, Chef De Mission of the Beijing 2022 Australian Winter Olympic Team, acknowledged the contribution she made to Australian mogul skiing.

"Taylah is a credit to herself and sport. Taylah had always been a great teammate and contributor on and off the snow."