Former world champion Belle Brockhoff's competitive snowboarding career is over with major injuries forcing the three-time Olympian into retirement.
The 33-year-old made the announcement weeks out from the 2026 Games in Italy where she hoped to again compete in the women's snowboard cross and mixed team event.
Brockhoff narrowly missed a medal at the last Winter Olympics in Beijing, devastatingly finishing fourth in the women's race.
The first Australian woman to win a snowboard cross World Cup gold medal among 17 podium finishes in total, Brockhoff also partnered with Jarryd Hughes to win the mixed world title in 2021.
But two serious injuries cruelled her hopes of lining up for another Olympics with the Milan-Cortina Games getting underway on February 6 (local time).
Brockhoff suffered a gruesome fracture of her wrist in late 2024 in a training accident, requiring plates to be inserted.
In March last year she crashed heavily near the end of a World Cup race in Georgia and had to be airlifted to Greece.
Scans revealed a fracture of the L1 vertebra, with pins and rods inserted into her back.
Brockhoff released a statement on social media on Friday revealing she had called time on competitive racing.
"I've been rehabbing a complicated compound fracture in my wrist and a fractured L1 vertebra in my spine," she wrote.
"I've rehabbed and trained hard for many months, and I know my body's limits. It is with this and more than 20 years of snowboarding that I know in my heart it is time to step away from competitive racing."
Brockhoff said she would miss racing around the world but was ready to embrace her future away from the sport.
"I will miss everything that snowboard cross has given me - it's been my passion, my identity and my greatest adventure.
"I will still go riding, share that love of snowboarding with the next generation and stay connected to this incredible community.
"But right now, the competitive chapter that defines so much of my life has come to a close. I'm excited for this next chapter in life. It feels right and I'm ready."
