Athlete Spotlight: Millie Bongiorno

Each month the Snowboard Committee will put the spotlight on an Australian Snowboard athlete to learn more about them as they train and compete around the World. This month focuses on National Snowboard Team Member Millie Bongiorno.

This season was, at times, both the best season and the worst season I have ever had, full of massive highs and major lows. I had huge goals for myself this season and a lot of confidence in myself too that I would achieve each of them. So, of course, I was extremely disappointed when I didn’t achieve those goals. But, I experienced what it means to put too much pressure on yourself and I was able to learn from the experience of not qualifying for the Olympic Games.

I reassessed my goals and chose to turn the disappointment and frustration I felt, into motivation and energy to show that I am and that I will be a fierce competitor in future events. I am so proud of the progress I made as an athlete and to say that I finished the season with my strongest results yet. Not many people on the tour expected to see Green and Gold standing on multiple Europa Cup podiums, or having results inside the World Cup top 25, and that makes the fire inside me burn so much brighter. There is still so much I want to achieve, with the ultimate goal being to stand on top of World Cup and Olympic podiums proudly representing Australia.

But in the short term, my goals are to take out the Europa Cup overall win for the season in 2023 and to be consistently placing within the top 25 at World Cups and at the next World Championships. The support I felt from Snow Australia this season was incredible and I am proud to share my success with everyone who has helped guide me along the way at Snow Australia, it is certainly not over and I can’t wait for what is next to come!

The team event is an opportunity unlike the individual race days. It is an opportunity to race athletes ranked in the very top 3 in the World! Not only that, Harvey and I get this incredible opportunity together. It really shows us what level we are striving to reach and, sometimes, just how close we are to that level. Being the only Australian competing in Alpine Snowboarding in Europe for some time, it has been lonely in the past. That all changed when Harvey joined me this season and suddenly, we became the Australian National Team Alpine Snowboard Team! Individual sports can be daunting at times and often isolating but competing with Harvey in the team event, cheering each other on and sharing our success with one another is one of those rare, fun and exhilarating experiences that we don’t often get when competing alone. Not to mention, the Aussie slang in the start gate always gives that extra motivation boost!