"I'm getting goosebumps," Jackie Narracott said, pulling on her official team Australia ski jacket and beanie.
Ironically, the Winter Olympic silver medallist is standing in 35-degree heat at The University of Queensland Athletics Centre , a world away from the crisp air of the northern Italian alps.
"I always get excited in the lead-up to an Olympics, even though I'm not competing anymore."
The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics will be the first Games Jackie has missed since winning silver in the skeleton in Beijing in 2022 and retiring in 2024.
Instead, the UQ alum ( Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science '11) will be in Sydney commentating TV coverage during the height of the Australian summer.
"It's a clash of worlds I'm all too familiar with," Jackie said, as she reflected on her unlikely path from Brisbane's sub-tropics to the slick ice tracks of Pyeongchang, Whistler, Saint Moritz and Beijing.
UQ alum Jackie Narracott at the UQ Athletics Centre.
(Photo credit: The University of Queendsland)
The skeleton is a niche winter sport and is especially challenging for someone from a sun-drenched country like Australia.
Athletes launch themselves head-first on a small sled down an ice track, reaching speeds of up to 130 km/h.
"Germans, Canadians and even Americans grow up on the ice. But for athletes from warmer parts of the world, it's often a sport we've transitioned into later in life," Jackie said.
"During my career I would spend 6 months of the year overseas, mostly in the northern hemisphere, so I could train on the ice.
"Back in Australia, I'd spend 4 days a week on the athletics track and 2 or 3 days in the gym for power and strength.
"I'd watch [point-of-view] video footage so I could visualise and maintain that feeling of sliding, so it wasn't a complete assault of the senses once I got back on the ice."
Jackie's passion for the skeleton is infectious, but the sport once deemed too dangerous for the Olympics was not her first choice.
Like her famous uncle and fellow UQ alum Paul Narracott ( Bachelor of Science '80, Bachelor of Dental Science '87) - the first Australian to compete at both the Summer and Winter Olympics - Jackie dreamed of being an Olympic sprinter or long-jump champion.
"I had only seen snow twice before a chance encounter gave me taste of sliding in a bobsled," Jackie said.
"But then I saw the skeleton and curiosity got the better of me.
"I just wanted to be an Olympian. At the time, I would have preferred to be a track and field athlete, but knowing Uncle Paul's history - combined with my love for the movie Cool Runnings - sliding was a no brainer."
(Photo credit: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Jackie's uncle Paul was the perfect role model.
He started his career as a sprinter and was the Australian junior champion over 100 metres and 200 metres in 1975/76. He competed at the 1983 World Championships before representing Australia at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Paul then transferred his sprinting skills to the ice, taking up bobsleigh and competing in the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics with teammate Glenn Turner in the 2-man event, finishing 30th.
"Growing up in Brisbane, the Winter Olympics weren't even on my radar," Paul said.
"My switch to bobsleigh was pure chance. I was well past my best in track and field and working as a dentist in Canberra, while trying to keep fit in the gym.
"A touring bobsleigh team was training at the Australian Institute of Sport, and someone approached me casually to train with them. It was that simple - right place, right time.
"Bobsled pushing is one of the few winter disciplines where a track athlete can transition easily.
"Driving is a different skill, but as a pusher, you just need to be fast."
Paul beamed with pride discussing his niece's success and the sacrifices she made to become an Olympian.
"I'm immensely proud that she won a medal, but the journey she endured to get to the Olympics was amazing because she toiled away for the best part of a decade," he said.
"She'd never had a podium finish at an internation competition until the final 2 races of her career."
Jackie's silver medal was Australia's first Olympic medal for a sliding sport and the fourth medal overall in Beijing, capping the country's greatest medal haul at a Winter Olympics.
"Words, don't do [winning an Olympic medal] justice - even 4 years on, it's still the most special, surreal feeling," Jackie said.
"The emotion was pure elation - it wasn't relief because I didn't expect to win a medal.
"After my Olympic debut in Pyeongchang in 2018 , My goal for Beijing was just to be competitive and produce the runs I knew I was capable of."
A month earlier, Jackie produced a breakthrough international performance at the skeleton World Cup in Switzerland, taking home Australia's first World Cup gold medal.
But the career highs almost didn't happen.
Jackie suffered a concussion at the start of the 2018 season when she hit a bump in the corner of the track during an event in Calgary.
Another bumpy track later that year triggered a follow-up concussion that left her unable to drive a car, let alone slide head-first down an icy track at 130km/h.
Jackie was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and faced the prospect of retiring at 27.
"I had to confront the possibility that I was done before I was ready," she said.
But a season spent training in Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic helped refine her technique away from the pressure of international competition.
"It was the best thing I ever did; my head healed, I got my confidence back, and I stopped comparing myself to everybody else and focus on what I do best."
Jackie is proud of her connection to UQ, noting its world‑class facilities and diverse sporting community.
"UQ is a first-class institution for student-athletes, and attracts people from all different backgrounds who continually compete and succeed on the international stage," she said.
"With access to world-leading coaching and sports-science research, it's no wonder Queensland athletes continue to punch above their weight."
