Four athletes with connection to Western Australia have been confirmed on the Australian Olympic Team for next month’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Lucas Mata will pilot the two-man and four-man bobsleigh teams, where he will be joined by Italian born, Perth based debutant David Mari.
Victorian Greta Small will make her second Olympic appearance, with the 22 year-old set to compete across the Super-G, Super Combined, Downhill, Giant Slalom and Slalom events in a busy campaign in South Korea. Small is a graduate of the WAIS individual athlete program having spent in time in Perth during her school years.
WA will also have a representative in the cross-country ski events, with 26 year-old Jessica Yeaton selected on Olympic debut, where she will compete in the 30km Skiathlon, Classic Sprint, 15km Freestyle and Team Sprint.
At 29, Mata will make a second Olympic appearance in the green and gold having competed in Sochi in 2014. The qualified school teacher will on this occasion however, be piloting the crews after switching roles following his debut in Russia.
His teammate Mari was born in Milan and initially made a start in sport through gymnastics. It was through Mata that the 22 year-old was introduced to bobsleigh and he made his representative debut in the sport for his adopted country in 2015 at the North America Cup.
Small’s road to PyeongChang has seen the talent overcome an ACL injury sustained in late 2015. Despite being just 22, she is a relative veteran in the Australian camp, having carried the flag at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Austria in 2012, before making her senior Olympic debut in Sochi four years ago.
Perth born skier Jessica Yeaton took up the sport as a 12 year-old whilst living in Anchorage, Alaska and she holds a degree in Exercise Science through Montana State University. Competing with Barbara Jezersek, the pair made history for Australia last year, becoming the first Aussies to qualify for the final of the Team Sprint at World Cup level.
The PyeongChang Winter Olympics will run from February 9-25.
