Tess Coady is an Australian snowboarder and Olympic bronze medallist that competes in the snowboard slopestyle and big air disciplines. She was selected for her second Australian Olympic team for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games where she will make her debut after suffering an injury during a training run at the PyeongChang 2018 Games which ruled her out the competing.
After taking up snowboarding at age nine, Tess tried her hand at the various styles before settling on slopestyle. At just 16 years of age, she made her world cup debut at Mammoth Mountain, California in February 2017 where she placed sixth. The next month she made her world championships debut competing in the slopestyle event and, for the first time, in the Big Air discipline, which was making its Olympic debut at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. Tess placed 11th and 21st respectively.
At the 2017 Junior Snowboard World Championships, The NSW Institute of Sport athlete won back-to-back gold in the snowboard slopestyle and big air events – the first Australian snowboarder to win a junior world championship.
Tess went on to win her first world cup medal at the Snowmass World Cup in January 2018, claiming bronze in the slopestyle, before being named on the Australian team for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. As the youngest member on the Australian team, Tess was set to make her debut in the slopestyle event before a devastating ACL injury during a practice run at the Games ruled her out of competition.
After missing the 2018/19 season to recover from her injury, the snowboarder returned to the slopes in spectacular form to claim Australia’s first-ever medal in the slopestyle discipline at the world cup event in Seiser Alm, Italy.
The 2020/21 season has been Tess’ most successful season to date, claiming two world cup slopestyle bronze medals and bronze in the slopestyle at the 2021 World Championships in Aspen, USA.
Tess recorded the second world cup victory of her career with an impressive gold medal performance in the slopestyle event at the 2022 Laax Open in Switzerland.
Continuing on from her success at the Laax Open, Tess went on to secure a bronze medal at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in the women’s snowboard slopestyle. In winning her bronze medal, Tess at just 21-years-of-age became the youngest Australian female to medal at a Winter Games and Australia’s first medallist in the event.
It was later revealed that Tess had contested and won her medal whilst also sporting a fractured ankle. She also contested the women’s snowboard big air event, where she finished ninth in the Olympic Final.