Thredbo have long had an association with the best Australian snow athletes and the resort have announced their 2021 ambassadors headlined by Winter Olympic gold medallist Torah Bright.
Accompanying Torah at Thredbo this year are fellow Olympians, Jarryd Hughes, Tess Coady, Paralympian Ben Tudhope, snowboarder Josie Baff, skier Abi Harrigan and exciting young 16 year old snowboarder Valentino Guseli.
Torah Bright
Torah Bright is a long-time Thredbo ambassador and can regularly be seen around the village. Olympic gold and silver medallist and three-time Winter Olympian, Torah competed in Women’s Halfpipe, slopestyle and snowboard cross at Sochi 2014, Vancouver 2010 and Torino 2006 and is a household name in Australian snowboarding.
Jarryd Hughes
Competing in PyeongChang 2018 and Sochi 2014, Jarryd Hughes is best known for the historic event where the then 22-year-old claimed a silver medal in a hotly contested men’s snowboard cross. Hughes has ranked as high as number two in the world on the FIS World Cup Rankings and recently won gold in the teams snowboard cross World Championships with Belle Brockhoff.
Tess Coady
Tess Coady is back with a bang following an injury at PyeongChang 2018. The 2017 World Junior Champion and Australia’s first-ever World Cup slopestyle gold medallist at Seiser Alm, Italy recently took out a bronze medal at the World Championships. Tess joins snowboarding legend Torah Bright as the only Australian snowboarder to win a World Championship medal in slopestyle.
Valentino Guseli
Named a teenage snowboarding prodigy at 11-years-old, Valentino Guseli became the youngest person ever to perform a double backflip. Recently the 16-year old broke the World Record for the highest halfpipe air which had been held by snowboard legend Shaun White 11 years and is one to watch in coming years.
Ben Tudhope
Australia’s youngest ever Winter Paralympian, Ben Tudhope is already a Paralympic veteran at the age of 21. Placed third in the men’s snowboard cross adaptive event at the 2016 Winter X Games in Colorado, USA, Ben has since competed at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 and proudly carried the Australian flag at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony.
Josie Baff
In her entire career so far, Josie Baff has only been out of the top five once. Growing up in Jindabyne, the 16-year-old snowboard cross superstar has competed in a total of eight FIS races in her career, two of which were junior races where she won both and has podiumed at three of the six senior races.
Abi Harrigan
A true all-rounder and Snowy Mountains local, Abi Harrigan started skiing at the age of two. The now 19-year-old placed 3rd at the slopestyle competition and 4th in the Big Air at the 2019 Australian New Zealand Cup and competed in her first World Cup Halfpipe competition in 2019 where she placed 18th.
Alongside the long list of ambassadors is the Thredbo Local Ambassador team of three who provide perspective on life growing up in Australia’s premier mountain destination.
Brother and sister duo Joey and Arkie Elliss grew up in Thredbo’s unique alpine village. When the roads were snowed in, they swapped school days with riding days setting the scene for a long-term love for the mountains. They will be seen riding the Thredbo slopes alongside Thredbo’s long list of ambassadors and their sights firmly set on making their mark on the international scene in years to come.
Growing up in Thredbo, Jye Kearney was already riding for Burton and landing magazine covers by age 13. In 2016 he was one of the only southern hemisphere snowboarders to make a debut in an internationally recognised snowboard film with Method Magazine.