Jakara Anthony got her 2026 Winter Olympics off and running with a superb qualification run at the Livigno Aerials and Moguls Park.
After days of perfect blue skies, the weather closed in on the course at the southern end of the Livigno valley, with flurries of snow and low cloud making the light conditions tough.
But Anthony delivered a pristine run regardless.
Showing the smooth skiing and clean jumps she has become famous for, Anthony was awarded the best score by the judges of 81.65.
Perrine Laffont, one of Anthony's key rival for gold, laid down an impressive run of her own but was only scored 79.47 to qualify fourth.
Americans Elizabeth Lemley (80.95) and Olivia Giaccio (80.74) both challenged the Aussie's score, although their compatriot Jaelin Kauf (53.38) struggled and will have to return tomorrow.
"I felt like that was what I needed to put down for qualifications," Anthony said.
"It felt pretty tidy. I'm yet to see it, but I think that's what we came out here to do today.
"My goal was just I wanted to get through in qualification one today so that I just have the chance to come out for finals tomorrow and I don't need to worry about qualification two.
"I think that run will do it. So yeah, happy."
Backed by a raucous mob of Australian supporters waving flags and an inflatable kangaroo above their heads, Anthony probably felt like she was the star attraction. It's because she is.
No Australian athlete is coming into these Games with as much expectation as Anthony.
The Barwon Heads skier has been, without doubt, Australia's best performer on the world stage in the past olympiad since Beijing — arguably across any sport.
In the four years since Anthony became Australia's first Winter Olympic champion since 2010, she has won 23 World Cup events (making 26 in total) across moguls and dual moguls as part of a total 29 podiums from 36 starts.
This season, her comeback season from injury, she has three wins from five starts.
But such sustained excellence carries a pressure all of its own, a weight of expectation that has the potential to paralyse. Not Anthony, it seems.
"[It's] definitely a bit different coming in as defending champion, but also a really cool opportunity," Anthony said.
"Like I've been saying, only one person gets that chance every four years and it's pretty cool that it's me this time.
"And my approach for the competition doesn't change because of that.
"I'm still out there just trying to hit the cues in the run that I know I need to and put down the run that I'm capable of.
"Me and my team, we've done everything to put me in the position to do that and now it's just time to go execute and it's going to be what it's going to be."
Ominously, Anthony said she's in as good a place as she was in Beijing, when she swept all before her to claim gold.
"Four years ago I was in the best place that I'd ever been in," she said.
"I would say now it's equivalent, just hopefully a step up."
To deal with the pressure, Anthony is watching Greys Anatomy, building Lego and doing a puzzle — a similar tactic to four years ago.
"Anything not to do with mogul skiing," she laughed.
Qualification is never routine — not least in a sport where results are determined on the whim of a judges mood, but it's to Anthony's immense credit that she made it seem so.
In the moguls, the top 10 ranked athletes who competed Tuesday qualify automatically for the first final.
Everyone else gets another chance to join those top 10 in a 20-athlete final one, which then gets whittled down to to a final eight to contest final two.
Both of Australia's Olympic debutants Emma Bosco (17th, 66.58) and Charlotte Wilson (28th, 49.95) will need to ski again on Wednesday to make the top 20, with Wilson upset after falling at the top of the run.
"I think I just got a bit antsy," Wilson, who won her maiden World Cup gold on this course in dual moguls in March.
"I mean, there's a lot of nerves and I went a bit big on top there, which I usually do when I'm nervous and then I just threw on the brakes when really I could have just skied through it.
"It's nice to just get a run out of the way and kind of tick that box and now I can really just focus on doing the run that I did in training and that I know that I can put down."
Nothing is a sure thing in sport.
No Australian has ever defended their Winter Olympic title, with Dale Begg Smith, Torah Bright (both silver), Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila (bronze) coming closest.
Anthony seems ideally placed to buck that trend.
Matt Graham sneaks into the first final
In the men's qualification earlier in the day, Matt Graham admitted there were nerves as he claimed the 10th and final automatic qualifying spot.
Graham comes into this Olympics with a different kind of pressure on his shoulders.
The devastation that he felt in the frigid environs of Jhangjiakou four years ago would have been a horrible way for his Olympic journey to end, still reeling from his badly broken collarbone and unable to compete at anywhere near his best.
The now 31-year-old had tasted the very best of what the Olympics can be with his silver in PyeongChang — and then was shown that the other side of the coin can be as torturous as anything he could imagine.
"I always feel the nerves from most competitions I do," Graham said.
"Because I want to do well.
"I enjoy the nerves and this morning I definitely had a bit more anticipation than, I guess, a normal event."
But now Graham is in a different place in his life. He's married, a father to daughter Ada.
And he is coming into this Games in the form of his life, with a World Cup gold and bronze to his name this season.
Not only does he have the form, but he has the big-competition experience to match.
Graham always steps up in the big moments, winning a medal at every world championships since 2019.
Given the quality of his opposition — Ikuma Horishima in particular was eye-catchingly brilliant, topping qualifying with a superb 85.42 ahead of Canadian pair Julien Viel (79.56) and living legend Mikaël Kingsbury (79.11).
Graham said his run "was not my best," a wobble in the mid-course followed by a far more risky slip just before the final jump which he rescued superbly.
"The course was good," Graham said.
"It was a little catchy, so you really just got to be in time and in sync with the bumps, but unfortunately I just made a few mistakes."
However, his score of 75.77 was still just enough, edging out American Charlie Mickel's 75.31.
Cooper Woods (15th), Jackson Harvey (23rd) and George Murphy (26th) will have another chance to qualify on Thursday.
A finalist in Beijing, Woods said he was pretty happy with his run but was looking forward to next week.
"It only puts a bit more pressure on for the next qualifications," he said.
"But I enjoy more pressure, pressure makes diamonds, so excited for the next one."
Pressure might make diamonds, but Australia is only interested in making gold — and this is their best chance yet.
