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ACU trailblazers bound for Winter Olympics

Armed with determination and a sense of adventure, two members of the Australian Catholic University community have followed an unorthodox trajectory to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

ACU Elite Athlete and Performer Program student Reilly Flanagan and EAPP alumnus Sarah Blizzard will be part of the 53-strong Australian team bound for the Games, which begin on 6 February.

Both will extend a glittering thread that connects the university to the Winter Olympics via the contributions of alumni Bree Munro, Cheltzie Lee and four-time Winter Paralympian Melissa Perrine.

“ACU is immensely proud of Reilly and Sarah,” ACU Vice-Chancellor and President Zlatko Skrbis said.

“The EAPP supports scores of students to manage their academic and co-curricular passions, so we are thrilled when they excel.”

The 2026 ACU contingent emerged from backgrounds not typically associated with Winter Olympics.

Aerial skier Reilly is studying a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science at the Brisbane Campus and completes his summer training on the snow ski ramp at the city’s Sleeman Sports Complex.

The former gymnast is new to the snow and will make his Olympics debut barely a year after his first individual World Cup performance at Lake Placid.

Sarah emerged from country Victoria and completed a Graduate Certificate in High Performance Sport via ACU online while on tour in Europe.

The sprinter was a four-time finalist at the Stawell Gift before switching her attention to the snow.

She was a reserve at the 2022 Winter Olympics but now has the opportunity to pilot a two-woman bobsleigh team with another ex-track athlete, Desi Johnson.

“Being an alternate at the last Games broke my heart and I have worked so hard to make sure that I turned it around to be a different story this time,” Sarah told her Instagram followers.

“I truly love this sport and I am so grateful to not only represent my country on the world stage, but now to be heading to the Olympics.”