5 Looking ahead Australia’s winter athletes continued their strong form by claiming five medals at the 2017 World Championships. This performance equalled Australia’s best medal haul in 2011, although the medals were won across a greater spread of sports. Australia’s medal winners included: Britt Cox (gold, moguls); Scott James (gold, half-pipe); Danielle Scott (silver, aerials); David Morris (bronze, aerials) and Alex Pullin (bronze, snowboard cross). Britt Cox became the first Australian to capture a world championship in the Olympic format moguls and also claimed the overall World Cup series title. Scott James defended his 2013 world championship title, only the second Australian to become a two-time winter sport world champion. Scott also won his respective overall World Cup series title. Prior to the 2017 World Championships, Australian athletes had won a total of 34 medals, including 16 gold across the 2016–17 World Cup events. So at the conclusion of the 2016–17 winter international season, Australia had won 39 medals – the most world medals won by Australian athletes in one year. It compares well against the results achieved in the 2012–13 pre-Olympic year before the Sochi Winter Olympics, when Australian athletes won a total of 25 medals, including four World Championship medals. Australia’s Paralympic winter athletes also performed well in 2017. At the 2017 World Championships Mitchell Gourley won gold in the men’s standing super-combined and Joany Badenhorst two bronze medals in the women’s standing snowboard cross and banked slalom. Triple world champion in 2015, Melissa Perrine and guide Andrew Bor, did not compete due to Melissa’s university commitments, instead competing at the World Cup Final and Paralympic Games test event in PyeongChang. At that event they won two silver and three gold medals. Significantly, they won medals in all four alpine disciplines: slalom, giant slalom, super G and downhill. Melissa Perrine and Mitchell Gourley both won the overall World Cup series titles in their respective events. At the conclusion of the 2016–17 international season three athletes have emerged as strong medal prospects for PyeongChang 2018: Melissa Perrine (with guide Andrew Bor) and Mitchell Gourley in Alpine Skiing and Joany Badenhorst in Snowboard Cross. The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in particular offer a wonderful opportunity for Australian athletes and sports to showcase themselves at home. The close working relationship between the AIS and Commonwealth Games Australia will ensure the Australian athletes and sports are well supported at the Gold Coast. As one Olympic cycle concludes, another commences. Australia is now fully immersed in the next preparation phase towards Tokyo in 2020. The biggest responsibility for the AIS and the Australian high performance sector is to ensure our resources are aligned with delivering podium success. There is a genuine commitment to continuous improvements across the sector and the journey to Tokyo is well underway. Matt Favier Director AIS