Che bella notizia!

Awesome news!

Sunshine Coasters Mela Stalker and Reilly Flanagan have been selected in the Australian Winter Olympics team to compete in Milano-Cortina, Italy.

Mela, a Coolum local who celebrates her 22nd birthday during the week of the Opening Ceremony, will compete in both the snowboard Big Air (Feb 8 and 9) and Slopestyle (Feb 16 and 17) being held at the Livigno Snow Park.

“I’m pretty damn excited,” Mela said. “It’s been a big run into the Games, so it’s cool to be here with everyone and feel all the feels.”

Mela will join fellow Aussies Tess Coady and Ally Hickman at the start line for the Big Air event.

Noosaville’s Reilly, 21, said he was incredibly proud to be living out a childhood dream and “endlessly grateful to everyone who’s supported me along the way”.

“It’s pretty strange but special at the same time, not many Queenslanders can say they are a Winter Olympian. From the outside looking in, it looks like a strange mix, but we have such a strong program coming from gymnastics in Australia,” he said.

The Olympic selection capped off an amazing few months for Reilly, having been announced as the Skiing Male Athlete of the Year at the 2025 Snow Australia Awards. He has been chosen to compete in the men’s aerials on Feb 17 and 19 and mixed team aerials team on Feb 21.

Both Mela and Reilly will be making their Olympics debuts.

The Australian Olympic team announcements can be found linked here which highlights some of Mela’s and Reilly’s recent successes on the World Cup circuits.

https://www.olympics.com.au/olympians/mela-stalker/

https://www.olympics.com.au/olympians/reilly-flanagan/

Congratulations Mela and Reilly on joining the growing Sunshine Coast Olympians and Paralympians honourboard.