Like a swimmer with a crocodile in the pool: Peel’s push for Olympic gold

To appreciate aerial skier Laura Peel’s relationship with yoga, it pays to understand the extreme nature of her sport.

Peel’s good friend and Winter Olympic gold medalist Lydia Lassila has a unique way of putting it into perspective.

Imagine being an Olympic swimmer, she says, with all her physical and mental demands, and then you throw a crocodile into the pool.

Now you’re getting close.

“That fight-or-flight instinct lasts for months,” explains Lassila of the Winter Olympics campaign.

“So your cortisol levels. [stress hormone] are high. You kind of feel, not anxious, but you always have a certain level of nervousness.”

Add the demands of grueling competition and the thrill of performing and it’s a heady mix. One that the Summer Olympians may never understand.

“I think it’s different than swimmers,” Lassila says. “He’s not diving and thinking, ‘Damn, I could really hurt myself.’ If they’re not swimming off a crocodile, then they’ll have some idea of ​​what it’s like to be an extreme athlete.”

Peel has been an extreme athlete at the highest level since 2009. Now 36, the former gymnast is a veteran of the Australian team heading to the 2026 Olympics.

But her ability to consistently deal with mental and physical pressure can be traced back to 2015, when she found herself in a rut that led her to yoga.

She had ankle surgery, didn’t exercise, lived at home in Canberra and was frustrated that I was “getting in my own way”.

“You know, I think I felt a little sorry,” Peel explains. “I had some back-to-back injuries, we had a lot of … coaching instability in our program and I didn’t feel like I was doing my best.

“I went to yoga for something physical, but I think there were just little things that I picked up on and it really helped me look at the positive side of things and see the opportunities rather than the obstacles.

“And then after that year. [2015]when I went back to training I came back much more positive. I felt like I came back to a different athlete. I was just happier and healthier. When things went wrong, it wasn’t the end of the world.’

Peel is in Melbourne with the Australian team taking part in a series of pre-match interviews.

She’s wearing blue denim ankle-length jeans, a white woolen long-sleeve, a half-zip sweater with a statement collar, and Doc Martens pull-up boots. Her black hair is combed into a half messy bun.

She is currently studying for a Masters of Professional Accounting and her answers are considered and secured.

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“I feel good,” he says. “Not everyone’s body or mind will allow them to go on as long as they’d like. I feel lucky to be able to dictate as far as I’m still going.”

Peel has competed in the last three Winter Olympics, including as a flag bearer in Beijing in 2022, where she finished fifth. She is also a two-time world champion.

But one medal still eluded her – Olympic gold.

That could all change, says Lassila, who won gold in Vancouver in 2010 after Alisa Camplin’s breakthrough win in Salt Lake City in 2002.

“He does everything he needs to do,” says Lassila. “She took a break the year before – she felt she needed it – and Black came in refreshed, invigorated and jumping better than ever.

“She knows what she’s doing. She’s right in the box to win an Olympic gold medal. That’s the reality.”

Lassila and Peel first met when they were together at the end of 2009 at a snow camp in Ruka, Finland. Peel was 20 years old at the time.

“Laura was just getting started with her career. I think she was doing single flips,” Lassila recalls of her rookie.

“I think I was very focused on what I was doing at the time, but I knew they were always watching and learning.

Fast forward 15 years and Peel is no longer a rookie. She is the No. 1 athlete in the sport—she won the World Cup Crystal Globe for the third time to top the rankings—and regularly endures triple somersaults.

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It is this ability, Lassila says, that has seen Peel take the sport to unprecedented heights.

“I mean [China’s] Xu Mengtao was a very dominant force,” says Lassila.

“She won the last Olympics and I’d say she’s the best ever in the last Olympics in terms of how many medals she’s won in her career, how long she’s been doing the sport, you know how many world championships, the level of her jumping, the level of how she’s progressed in the sport.”

“And Laura, at this moment, the quality of her jumping is even better.

Peel became the first aerial skier to land a triple backflip in international competition in 2019 and continues to push the envelope with his high-risk, high-reward maneuvers.

But even Peel understands time is running out as she prepares to race in Livigno for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Still, she heads into the Games in great form after winning a world cup race in Canada’s Lac-Beauport on Jan. 8.

“I think there are bonuses to being a young athlete,” she says. “You know, now that I’m a little older, I can’t do as many jumps as I used to and things like that, but I’m really grateful for the experiences that I have and, you know, the kind of wisdom that I’ve developed over the years.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time… and there are other things in life. I don’t know exactly where the wind will blow me. But unfortunately, I can’t do this forever.”

So if these are her last games, how high is she setting her expectations?

“I want to get to Livigno happy and healthy and I want to do the best jumps for the day and my best jumps are some of the best,” she says. “And it would be really nice to end up with an Olympic gold medal.

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So does Lassila have any final advice for her friend of 16 years?

“She has the physical ability, the mental ability to do it because she’s played in high-pressure stakes before,” says Lassila.

“If I had any advice, I would tell her closest team – her coach, her support staff – that it’s all about keeping the confidence from start to finish.

“I’m just reassuring her that she’s exactly where she’s supposed to be, she’s exactly where she deserves to be, and all she has to do is jump. And don’t worry about anything else.”

No worries in extreme sports? This is where yoga comes in.

The Winter Olympics will be broadcast on 9 Network, 9 Now and Tent Sports.