7 things you didn't know about Tess Coady

Courtesy AOC

At the age of 16, Tess Coady won two Junior Snowboard World Championship titles in Slopestyle and Big Air in April 2017, just two months after she placed sixth in her World Cup debut at Mammoth Mountain.

After placing 11th in the Snowboard Slopestyle and 21st in the Big Air at the 2017 Sierra Nevada World Championships, the youngster cemented herself as an athlete to watch as the push to PyeongChang heats up.

Here are seven things you didn't know about the Victorian snowboarder crowned the 2017 Australian Ski and Snowboard Rising Star of the Year:

1. I have only ever skied once in my life and that was for Interschools cross-country. My team managed to qualify through to nationals where I ended up coming dead last just behind my team mate who came second last. I even managed to fall over the finish line and I had never stood on any form on skis since that day!

2. As kids, my sister and I were Saddle Club tragics and we both had aspirations to be professional horse riders when we grew up.

3. My extended family always host a large Christmas lunch every year and although I spend a lot of time away training and competing I have never missed a Christmas with my family.

4. I am far from musically talented but I love to play ukulele when I’m not travelling.

5. Although I spend most of my year standing on a snowboard when I was a kid most days of my summer were spent at the beach as I spent a lot of time surfing and competing in Surf Life Saving.

6. The first time I caught a chairlift was by accident. After some practice on the magic carpet we were side slipping down Blue Bullet when I lost the rest of my Ski School group, it turns out they walked up the side of the run while I had the luxury of sitting on a chairlift the first time.

7. I am a diehard Richmond Football Club supporter and I was super stoked to watch them win the Grand Final this year!