Winter Olympics: Jindabyne facility to launch Laura Peel's 2026 campaign

Not only will it be a crucial cog in Peel's next Winter Olympic campaign, but a host of her rivals are also set to stop in on their way to the 2026 Games.

The National Snowsport Training Centre in Jindabyne has had a $5 million upgrade, adding a new development airbag for aerial jumping to go along with the pre-existing high-performance bag.

They're the only two airbags in Australia and they'll help develop the next Peel for future Winter Olympics.

The gym will also undergo a massive face lift to make it the perfect year-round training base.

Snow Australia chief executive Michael Kennedy expected Canberra's Peel to jump at the chance to train at home before the next Olympics.

Peel's looking to bounce back from a disappointing Beijing Games where she finished fifth and missed out on a medal, after going in as favourite for the gold.

"I've got no doubt Laura, will be back," Kennedy said.

"I think she's taking a well-earned break after a pretty full-on four-year campaign, the last two of which, with COVID, saw them away for the majority of the years.

"Laura's just a brilliant athlete. She's still one of the best in the world.

"She obviously didn't quite get the Olympic results she was after, but we know that at her best she's absolutely in the hunt for the gold medal.

"We're looking forward to seeing her back into it again."

The upgrades have sparked interest from countries all around the world who want to come check out the top-of-the-line facilities.

New Zealand, Canada and Great Britain were all looking to head Down Under in the lead-up to Milano Cortina Olympics.

But Kennedy expected that to also help push Australia's Olympians to greater heights as well.

Not to mention inspire generation next of Aussie talent.

"There's a lot of interest and a lot of inquiries from international teams who want to come and use the facility," Kennedy said.

"I think it's really exciting that the New Zealanders, who just won two gold medals at the most recent Games, the Canadians, who are the No.1 team in the world, and the Brits, who are also very successful, all want to come in the next few months to use the airbags.

"For us to have world class teams training there alongside our own athletes will create an incredible environment.

"Kids will be jumping on the development bag after school, while you have gold medallists jumping on the performance bag next door."

The development bag can be used by children and emerging skiers and snowboarders, and it will offer athletes of all abilities the chance to train and improve their skills year-round on high-quality artificial surfaces.

Kennedy believed the "new addition is the most exciting aspect of the whole project."

"The development airbag really is targeted at kids and anyone who's almost at an intermediate level," he said.

"If you can go in a straight line on a ski or snowboard, you can pretty much go off the jump.

"The idea is that as you progress through, and as your skills improve, you move across to the high-performance bag.

"It really completes that whole progression story and gives a chance to the young kids to come in and learn fundamentals in a low-risk environment all year round."

Kennedy said expanding the gym to triple it's size was the next stage of the development, with work continuing throughout the year.

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"We've had a vision now for the last three, four years, which we've been working towards creating a world-class National Training Centre at Jindabyne," he said.

"There's been an existing gymnasium on site for a long time and ... we're going to triple the size of the gym space to make it truly a world-class, high-performance training space.

"There's going to be spaces for coaches, for athletes and there'll be a sports science element to the building as well.

"At its core, it's high performance. It'll service the needs of the high-performance athletes across all the winter sports disciplines."

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