Thursday 11 December

Lydia Ierodiaconou had one leg in the air this week as she worked out in the VIS gym on a springboard to strengthen her leg, but from Saturday, she will have both of them off the ground.

The three time World Cup runner-up flies out of Melbourne on Saturday, headed for the Canadian resort of Apex, to join her fellow Flying Kangaroos in on-snow training.

Ierodiaconou, who has spent the past month in Melbourne rehabilitating her knee, will ski "for a couple of days" then get back onto the inrun for the first jumps she has done on snow since the 2005 World Championships in Finland last March.

Olympic Winter Institute team doctor Peter Braun has given the 23-year-old the all clear, rating her leg better than 90 per cent of full strength, and the departure this weekend will give her six weeks of training prior to the Torino Games.

Meanwhile, team-mate Jacqui Cooper has jumped her first triple somersaults on snow at the Apex training camp.



Jacqui Cooper in Action Last Season

Courtesy OWI/Sportcom