ALBURY snowboarder Mahalah Mullins has been selected in the Australian Youth Olympic Team.
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The Scots School student, 17, will compete in slopestyle and halfpipe in the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, in February.
The slopestyle specialist hopes to follow in the footsteps of Aussie champs Torah Bright and Holly Crawford.
Mullins started snowboarding at Falls Creek when she was six and began training and competing when she was 13.
“It’s pretty exciting to represent Australia, and I think the Youth Olympic Games is a particularly special event in the celebration of sport that is almost as significant as the competition,” Mullins said.
“It’s also going to be cool to be a part of the team over there. I know and lived with a lot of the snowboarders, but it will be cool to meet the Australian athletes from other sports.”
Mullins was able to earn selection despite missing the 2015 Junior World Championships with a serious ankle injury.
She is in Colorado in the US training with Transition Snowboard Camp before heading to California for competitions at the end of January.
“I try to go into competitions aiming to land my run rather than aiming for a place,” she said.
“It’s pretty pointless to set goals on what other people are doing or on factors you can’t control.
“I’m really looking forward to a great Youth Olympic Games experience.”
Mullins said it was a challenge juggling training and competing around the world with her studies in The Scots School.
“I’m going to head home for a little bit before the Youth Olympic Games so I can go to school,” she said.
“I’m having a less intense season this year because I am doing year 12 so I have to balance schoolwork along with traveling and competition.”
Sydney prodigy Emily Arthur, 16, joins Mullins in the team and together they are forming the next generation of snowboarders.
The slopestyle event made its Olympic debut at the first Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck in 2012, where Australian Alex Fitch won a bronze medal.
Along with snowboarding, Australia will also be represented in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross country skiing, ice hockey (skills challenge), luge and short track skating.
Next month’s event in Lillehammer will include many of the venues from the Winter Games in Norway in 1994 with 1100 young athletes from 70 nations competing in 70 events.