In 2018, Tudhope’s support crew was modest. In Milano Cortina, it was a different story

Cortina: Three Paralympic cycles ago, an 18-year-old Ben Tudhope returned to his second Games in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang. At the bottom of the snowboard course, his mum Melissa sat on blue plastic seats and looked admiringly at the Australian supporters gathered to back Tudhope’s fellow athletes.

Comparatively, the Tudhope support crew was modest. Next to Melissa was Tudhope’s dad, Andrew, and his two sisters, Annabel and Phoebe.

But this week, the banks of the Cortina snowboard course have been lined with clusters of green and gold puffer jackets. Within them, on the sloping, snowy hill, were Tudhope’s family and friends. The noise they emitted was far louder than any other support group from any other athlete of any country.

“I said to [four-time Paralympic skier Mitch Gourley] today, it brought back a lot of memories,” Melissa said. “Because back in the Pyeongchang days, Mitch had all these uni mates there and all these friends. And I said, we’re now in the same boat. We have all of Ben’s mates and uni friends, and it is more than special.”

“I haven’t been able to let myself dream that we might be there as well. And so seeing it all come together and all those beautiful people, the craziness up on the hill. Our dream has come true as a family.”

On Friday, the group watched as the now 26-year-old won his second medal of the Paralympic Games, a bronze in the men’s banked slalom SB-LL2 – one week after earning silver in the snowboard cross.

“It’s special,” Tudhope said. “It’s just amazing to be able to have them here, have them in the medal ceremony. I definitely heard them cheering me on up there on the course in the final couple turns and that really made me try [and] go for it even more.”

As much as his support crew has filled out, so has Tudhope, who made his Paralympic debut as a small 14-year-old at the 2014 Sochi Games – the same year snowboarding was introduced as a Paralympic sport.

Going into the Milano Cortina Games, Tudhope, who has hemiplegic cerebral palsy, was the only defending medallist on the Australian team, having won the sole medal (bronze) in Beijing in 2022.

As such, he should have felt more pressure than ever. His competition season leading up to Cortina had delivered mixed results, and he was up against local Emanuel Perathoner, an Italian who had competed in Sochi and Pyeongchang in the Olympics while Tudhope had been in the Paralympics.

Perathoner underwent a total knee replacement in 2021 after sustaining an injury in practice. Initially, he thought the idea of competing in the Paralympics was funny.

“At first, I was joking with my physio about going to the Paralympics, but I never thought I would be classified,” Perathoner said ahead of the Games this month. “An ex-teammate of mine talked to the Italian Paralympic Committee, and that’s when the idea to try it [came].”

By the time Tudhope had returned to his third Games in 2022, Perathoner had begun para-snowboarding and quickly became Tudhope’s most formidable competition.

“This season hasn’t been the best for me. I’ve had more times off the podium than on. In the last few seasons, it’s been one of my worst,” Tudhope said.

But in front of a full-throated crowd, the Sydney-born snowboarder made it to the podium in both his events for the first time at the Paralympics.

“Today was fun. The pressure was off. The expectation of medalling was off and it’s fun going out there and being a contender and fighting for the podium,” he said after the banked slalom on Friday.

He finished behind Perathoner, who also took gold in the snowboard cross, and Switzerland’s Fabrice von Gruenigen.

“I always try for gold. I always try for the win. And Perathoner, he’s a great competitor, but he’s not unbeatable. There’s been instances where I have got him in the past and I will continue to improve my skills, improve my snowboarding to be the best I can be,” he said.

Now that his races are done – and he has a new task of finding his crowd of green and gold, no longer mingling on a white mountain, but filing into a sports bar in town – Tudhope is happy to wave his fourth Games goodbye.

“I’m happy. It’s an amazing feeling being here, to be at the Paralympic Games, to come away with two medals after being the opening ceremony flag bearer. What a dream Games for me,” he said.

“[If] more people are seeing Paralympics snowboarding, Paralympic skiing, just the Paralympics in general, and they can believe that they have something to achieve – that’s what I’m here for.”

This masthead has travelled to Cortina as a guest of Paralympics Australia.

The Winter Paralympic Games is broadcast on the Nine Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.