He's not quite the bionic man but with a brand new knee repaired with cells grown from his own wrist, Australian moguls skier Cooper Woods is looking for another super-human Olympic showing.
The 25-year-old raced to a surprise sixth place four years ago in his debut Olympics in Beijing but like many in the high-risk sport has endured his share of injuries.
Woods had to cut short his 2024-25 World Cup season after tearing the patella tendon in his knee but underwent a state-of-the art procedure called Autologous Tenocyte Implantation (ATI) to ensure he was back on snow within the year.
"I got this new procedure where they cut a tendon out of my wrist and they ended up growing tenocytes in a lab over in Perth, and then eventually injected those tenocytes back into my tear in my knee," Woods said from Livigno.
"It's a brand new procedure, and it worked really, really well and for something that could have been 18 months, it only took me nine months to get back to where I was.
''I'm very, very excited - feeling very fit and healthy."
After competing in the top-six medal round in Beijing, Woods was messaged by one of the greats of of the sport.
Former Olympic champion and Australia's first moguls medallist Dale Begg-Smith sent the then 21-year-old a text to not only congratulate him on his sixth-placed performance, but to tell him he was robbed.
Begg-Smith disappeared off the radar after he won Olympic gold in 2006 and a controversial silver four years later in Vancouver and Woods didn't know he was even watching.
The Carribbean-based businessman wrote 'I thought you deserved third place. You went really well. All the best - Dale'.
Woods told AAP he recently reflected on the message, which gave his career a huge confidence boost.
"I recently went back and had a look at that message from Dale and it was a moment of reflection of how big it was to receive a message from someone like him," said Woods, who is from Pambula on the NSW far south coast.
"I didn't ski at the same time Dale did and I've only met him a handful of times, so to receive a message like that was unbelievable.
"Hopefully I can get a few more at these Olympics."
Woods had a strong showing in the opening round but was let down by scores for his jumps.
He will compete in the second round of qualifying on Thursday night (AEDT), looking for a top 10 finish to join his Australian teammate Matt Graham in the first final.
That 20-strong field is then cut down to eight who compete for the medals.
