Snowboarder

Tess Coady

“Snowboarding is an art in its own way. You want to put your own spin on everything – that’s the inspiration for me."

Tess Coady Snowboarding Athlete

Time in the mountains, in the air, and the creativity and freedom of expression snowboarding brings is what has led Tess to a life of back to back winters.

Growing up in St. Kilda, Victoria, Tess would spend weekends and school holidays in the mountains. First learning to snowboard with her siblings, which offered some friendly competition, Tess took competition to the next level through Interschool Snowsports competitions.

She dabbled in everything from park to racing, but eventually gravitated towards slopestyle. From the age of 14 Tess started competing overseas and doing back to back seasons.

In 2017, she had her breakout year, being named ‘Rising Star’ at the 2017 Australian Ski and Snowboard Awards after her debut World Cup season.

Her success brought her to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games where she was Australia’s youngest competitor. In a training run for Slopestyle, with challenging weather conditions, Tess ruptured her ACL, putting an end to her 2018 Olympic appearance. One hour later, the competition was called off due to unsafe conditions.

A twelve-month ACL recovery, and navigating recent seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tess has faced some challenges. But she has completed the 2020-2021 season ranked 3rd in the world, and with an aim to be selected to her second Australian Olympic Team for Beijing 2022.

Her time in recovery and transitioning back into the competition scene offered insight and time to mature as an athlete.

Now as an Olympic medalist and multiple winner of World Cups and other major international events, Tess looks toward the future with great optimism. She plans to continue to develop her riding and compete on the international stage in future World Cups, World Championships and Olympic Games. In doing so she will make a commitment to assist younger riders to progress in the sport to be the best that they can be.

On the rare days when Tess is not riding somewhere in the world, she likes to spend time with her family and friends. She has a strong interest in the environment and in maintaining and improving the awareness of issues around sustainability, and if the surf is pumping — so much the better.

Accomplishments