UQ student Lindsey Kiliwnik in action for the Brisbane Lightning in the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League.
(Photo credit: UQ Sport/Callum Wood. )
When Lindsey Kiliwnik tunes in to watch the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics, she doesn't wonder if Australia belongs in ice hockey, she thinks about when.
The national women's team is yet to qualify for a Winter Olympics, but the 23-year-old Australian representative knows her team will one day compete on the world's biggest stage, even if she's not there herself.
"Qualifying for a Winter Olympics is our ultimate goal," Kiliwnik said.
"That puts us on the map; extra funding, more spectators and more people getting involved in the sport.
"It's not going to happen within the next 3 years, but maybe within the next 10.
"It's the legacy I want to help build."
The Canadian-born, Brisbane-raised University of Queensland Master of Physiotherapy student said ice hockey has been a part of her life from an early age.
After finding her place in the local leagues, Kiliwnik is now alternate captain of the Brisbane Lightning in the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL).
She said the sport has evolved rapidly in recent years, especially the women's game as more girls compete across Australia.
"Five years ago we'd be lucky to have 10 people in the stands, and now we're almost selling out arenas."
It's a trend Kiliwnik believes is critical to progression on the world stage.
She first represented Australia as a teenager, debuting in the Under-18s team before joining the senior women's squad at just 14.
"Putting on the green and gold jersey for the first time was unreal," she said.
Off the ice, the UQ Elite Athlete is in the second year of her Masters in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Science .
Her academic pathway began with a Bachelor of Clinical Exercise Physiology .
"During my final placement in exercise physiology, I started working with a supervisor who was both a physio and an exercise physiologist," Kiliwnik said.
"Seeing what he could do with physio in the acute stage of rehab, treating injuries and diagnosing made me want to pursue physiotherapy as well."
(Photo credit: UQ Sport/Callum Wood.)
For now, Kiliwnik is balancing study, sport and ambition, building towards a future that may still be a decade away.
Her proudest sporting moment was Australia's gold-medal win in Division II Group B at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships in New Zealand in April 2025.
"We'd been in that division for 4 years and kept falling just short of the gold medal," she said.
"We finally did it last year, which was unreal."
The win secured promotion to a higher division for the upcoming IIHF World Championship in Slovenia in April.
It's a campaign packed with pressure, exactly how Kiliwnik likes it.
"I live for the intensity," she said.
"The really important games, the last 5 minutes when everything's so tense, I absolutely love that."
