Snowboard whiz-kid Valentino Guseli says the Milan-Cortina Olympics will be extra special as he looks to honour his Italian heritage, with his grandparents set to make the trip to watch him compete.
Guseli's "nonno" Guido has been integral in the 19-year-old's climb to the top of his sport, many years ago building a 10-metre high jump with a landing air-bag on his NSW far south coast property so the youngster could train close to home.
Guseli said his grandparents and loads of Italian relatives - many he's yet to meet - will be in the stands in a year's time, with the Games opening on February 6 in Milan.
"I'm half Italian so I'm really looking forward to representing Australia and also my Italian heritage over there as well," said Guseli, who finished sixth in the halfpipe in his Olympic debut in Beijing in 2022.
"This Games will be big for me personally and I've been working on my Italian tirelessly to try to prepare for the press conferences over there.
"Out of the Beijing Games and the next one in France, Italy's the dearest to my heart and definitely the one I want to do well in the most.
"My grandparents will be there which I'm super excited for so it's definitely going to be one that I will remember forever so I want to do as well as possible."
Guseli's preparation for his second Games was rocked when he ruptured his ACL in a fall during qualifying for a big air World Cup event in China in December.
But Guseli, who won silver in the halfpipe at the last world championships, said his recovery was ahead of schedule and he was already running and hoped to be back on snow by the Australian winter.
He has set a goal to become the first male snowboarder to compete in three events at an Olympics, aiming to qualify for the halfpipe, big air and slopestyle events.
"For now it's just rehab and getting the rest of my body as strong as possible and then as soon as I'm back on snow it's going to be pounding out the tricks I'm going to need to get the wins in the different events in the qualification."
