History beckons for one of Australia's Olympic flag-bearers, Laura Peel.
But as was the case in the opening ceremony, she will not be flying the flag alone on the slopes in Zhangjiakou.
The 32-year-old — a two-time world aerials champion — is in with an excellent chance to follow Australia's gold-lined ski tracks down the aerials slope at the Genting Snow Park on Monday.
"I suppose compared to previous Olympics, there is a little bit more pressure," said Peel, before last week's opening ceremony.
"But, as they say, pressure is a privilege."
That pressure might be coming from someone very close to home, with teammate Danielle Scott looming as one of Peel's biggest challengers to winning gold.
The five-time World Cup winner and two-time world championship medallist — who sits in fourth on the World Cup standings this season just behind Peel — is back to her best having recovered from a second ACL injury suffered in 2019.
Both Australians are genuine contenders, but it was Peel who showed she has the necessary tricks in her armoury to blow the opposition away at Deer Valley in January, landing a quadruple twisting triple backflip to completely obliterate the field.
"I'm very proud of everything that I've done leading into now," Peel said.
If she can replicate a move hailed as "probably the greatest full-full-full ever done by a woman" by Australia's deputy chef de mission Alisa Camplin, then surely a gold medal will follow, improving on her seventh and fifth-placed finishes from Sochi and Pyeongchang respectively.
Australia's astonishing aerials history
Camplin knows what she is talking about when it comes to aerials skiing.
After all, she is one of the women Peel hopes to emulate by winning gold in Beijing, with Camplin winning Australia's first aerials Olympic gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
Adding a bronze four years later in Turin, Camplin's achievements were replicated by Lydia Lassila, who picked up gold in Vancouver and bronze in Sochi.
For those of you keeping count, that is four of Australia's 15 total Winter Olympic medals won by female aerials skiers.
Throw David Morris's silver at Sochi into the mix and you have a third of Australia's entire Winter Olympic medal haul having been claimed by those brave enough to hurl themselves — while spinning wildly — up into the night sky off a snow-based ramp.
It is a phenomenal record and one not lost on the youngster of the group, 23-year-old Olympic debutant Gabi Ash.
Despite having only competed in 10 World Cup events in her short career, Ash — the 23-year-old younger sister of moguls star Sophie — has excelled, recording three top-10 finishes in the past two years, including a sixth place in Ruka in December, ahead of both Scott and Peel.
"It's a very cool position to be in, especially being able to train and compete alongside these two and learn from how they train, how they compete and pick their brains about certain things," Ash said.
Despite Pyeongchang being the first Games in four where Australia has not medalled in the aerials competition, the form of Peel and Scott means that Beijing offers a perfect opportunity to re-establish Australia's place on the dais.
"It's definitely pretty special to be following in the footsteps of great success," Scott said.
"I think that gives us a lot of confidence too. We've seen what they've done to get here and what we need to do."
No complacency as home favourites loom large
Despite acknowledging that Scott represents one of her likely challengers for gold, Peel was quick to warn against complacency.
"There is no doubt we've got such an incredible team here," she said.
"Honestly there's a lot of competition from all over the world, we know the Chinese are very strong, The US, Ukraine, Belarus, so certainly can't get complacent."
The Chinese certainly loom as challengers.
Xu Mengtao and Kong Fanyu sit first and second in the World Cup standings with four podiums each from just six starts this season and will have the home support.
Camplin, however, is confident of success.
"We have three amazing ladies here," Camplin said of Peel, Scott and Ash.
"Laura is coming into these Games with amazing form, it's been a privilege to watch [her] do one of the hardest jumps that women have ever done this year.
"[Scott has] Introduced triple summersaults into her repertoire this year, it's probably one of the fastest movements through complex triple summersaults that we've ever seen in the women's field."
As deputy chef de mission, Camplin has duties other than working with the aerial skiers, despite her obvious expertise.
However, she said she does not need to be hands-on.
"I don't need to get involved in their day-to-day, they got here because they are great at what they do," she said.
"What they do day-in, day-out and what got them to be here is what enabled them to achieve the performances that have put them on the world standing they hold today, and they don't need to do anything more than that.
"They are incredibly strong — mentally and physically — they're graceful, they're focused.
"I'm pretty sure they're quite capable of doing what comes naturally to them."
