Australia's youngest Winter Olympic athletes competing for gold and 'embracing every part' of the experience

Four Australian teenagers are hours from a thrilling Winter Olympics debut at Beijing and brimming with nervous anticipation.

One of the 43 elite athletes – including 19 debutants – in the Australian team is 16-year-old Valentino Guseli from Dalmeny on the far south coast of NSW.

The halfpipe snowboarder said he was «stoked» to qualify, especially after almost missing out.

After taking a couple of falls, the teen sensation successfully made a comeback just in time to qualify for Beijing 2022.

"[My coach and I] analysed the mistakes we made and made sure not to do them in the rest of the competitions," Guseli said.

He said he was relieved to qualify for the games after performing well at the Laax Open in Switzerland last month.

«That feeling of the pressure just being released was pretty nice, for sure,» Guseli said.

As the youngest athlete on the Australian team, Guseli says he is aiming for a personal best performance.

«To make finals would be awesome and, yeah, there's always the goal to win,» he said.

«When I'm about to drop in and I see the cameras are on and the dude at the top says 'the pipe's yours', I just try to remember it's just me, my board, and the halfpipe.

»I'm just going out and really doing my expression of art."

Among the mix of Australian athletes set to compete in their first Olympic Games is Jindabyne snowboarder Josie Baff who recently turned 19-years-old.

The 2020 Youth Olympic gold medallist said while some people were surprised to see athletes perform well at «such a young age», experience was important in a discipline like snowboard cross.

"[Experience] really pays in our sport," she said.

«To have that early on is going to be really beneficial for my future career.»

As a female rider, Baff says she feels