Growing up in a family of avid skiers, Holly Harris has spent her life in the snow and now she’s competing at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics .
When she was five, Holly discovered ice skating while on a family holiday in Aspen, Colorado, and instantly fell in love with the sport.
“My mum took me on the ice and I remember it being so difficult, which I didn’t expect,” Holly told Woman’s Day ahead of her appearance at the Games
“Mum was gliding around the ice so effortlessly, because she’d grown up figure-skating. She offered to help me but I was determined to do it myself.”
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Soon, she conquered the ice too and now two decades on, the 23-year-old from Sydney is going for gold in pairs ice dancing at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, which began this week in Milan, Italy.
WINNING GOLD
“I grew up dreaming about [going to the Winter Olympics] and it’s what I’ve been training my whole life for,” Holly said.
“I can’t wait to represent Australia, it’s such a huge honour. Winning gold would mean the world to me.”
Holly and her Canadian-born dance partner of six years, Jason Chan, are two of 53 Aussie athletes hoping to return with a medal or two around their necks.
Holly explained her pairing with Jason happened entirely by chance. In 2016, she and her then ice dance partner moved from Sydney to Montreal, Canada, to train at a figure skating academy, but he backed out at the last minute.
Luckily for Holly, Jason, 29, was looking for a partner.
“Jason’s originally Canadian – it’s pretty hard to find a good match from the same country,” Holly said. “Luckily it turned out to be a great match, and now Jason is officially an Australian and he loves it!”
Together, they train five days a week on the ice. Holly said it was a pinch-me moment when they qualified for the Winter Olympics in September.
“I knew I was going to be emotional from all the nerves, and you try not to think about all the external factors like the crowd and pressure.”
“As soon as our scores came up, I knew we’d done enough and my coach just said, ‘You’re going to the Olympics!’”
MAGIC MOMENT
Watching that magic moment in the crowd were Holly’s mum Karen and her brother Lachlan, while her dad Paul and sister Hannah cheered along from the family home in Sydney.
“My mum doesn’t get to come to every competition like she used to, and my brother never gets to go to any – so it was amazing having them there for that moment,” Holly said. “The hug I got from them after [the qualifier] was the best hug of my life.”
Holly and Jason are the first Australians to compete in ice dancing at a Winter Olympics since Sochi 2014.
And while she admitted she’s nervous about competing on the world stage, Holly said she’ll be treating it like one of their normal competitions.
“My goal is to really soak up the Olympic experience and enjoy it as much as possible,” she said.
She even incorporated our national colours into her costume. “We designed my costume to be green and gold,” Holly explained. “When I first tried it on, I felt so confident and honoured to be wearing those colours!”
