Miriana Perkins: gymnast-turned-aerials skier flying high

Up the creek isn’t just an expression for Miriana Perkins, that’s literally where the former elite gymnast found herself in her first attempts at snow skiing.

“I had about three days of skiing and at one point I skied into a creek,” the 20-year-old from Hamilton, Victoria reveals. “I was not good”.

This context is important, because this year, in her first season jumping on snow, Perkins incredibly finished fourth in aerial skiing at the FIS Junior World Championships in Austria.

The former Australian gymnastics representative switched to aerial skiing in 2020 with virtually no experience on snow whatsoever. Pardon the pun, but it was a big leap.

“It was a jump, but it never really felt like that because it was fun,” Perkins says.

Indeed, Perkins’ pathway into the sport isn’t new. Australia has a significant history of success in aerial skiing, especially in women’s freestyle. The succession of champions includes Kirstie Marshall, Jacqui Cooper, Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila, while Laura Peel and Danielle Scott are enjoying success now.

Many of them started in other sports, especially gymnastics. Perkins was in the national gymnastics squad and it was only in 2018 she was awarded Victoria’s High Performance Gymnast of the Year.

“Gymnastics had a lot of skills I could transfer over, like discipline and hard work,” Perkins says. “I understood what it was like to be an elite athlete. Then it was just really exciting to be a beginner at something, I loved learning new things, meeting a new team and the culture was a bit different.”

Until this season, Perkins had only performed her jumps in the gym and a water ramp. Supported by the Victorian Institute of Sport, she's now keen to get more time on snow at Mt Buller and is looking to progress her training to the double kicker at Queensland’s Olympic water training facility.

She says the 2022-23 season has provided her with a “lot of drive”.

“It was my first season and I was really happy because I had a lot of big milestones,” Perkins says. “It was my first time competing for Australia in aerials; first time doing even flips on snow; me and my team, we were the first Australian team at junior worlds which I was really proud of. It was just a really fun season and a cool intro to aerials.

“I just want to catch up to everyone in my field who’s way better than me. It’s just made me more hungry.”