Steph Prem (@steff_snow) shares her fave Winter Olympian follows

As a former Winter Olympian, I am never more excited than right before the start of a new Olympic Winter Games. It’s an indescribable rush seeing other snow sports athletes take to the slopes to overcome not only their opponents, but also the limits of their own performance. From gut-wrenching, never-before-seen feats of athleticism, to uplifting underdog stories and heartbreaking losses, the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games will have it all.

I also love getting behind the Aussie team to show my support for our homegrown heroes. Despite not being blessed with particularly good winter sports conditions locally, many of our athletes in the Australian team will be pushing it with the world’s best in South Korea.

If you want a behind-the-scenes snapshot of all the action, here are some of my favourite athletes to follow on Twitter!

@bellebrockhoff

Belle Brockhoff finished eighth at Snowboard Cross in Sochi, the highest result for any Australian women that year. Undoubtedly, she’ll be wanting to improve on this result in South Korea. Belle is such an inspiration to me and many aspiring snowboarders. Amazingly, she has only just received medical clearance to compete, coming back from an ACL injury in December. But her recent Tweets show she hasn’t let this get her down. I don’t know many other people who emit the same positive, confident energy that she does. I know Belle’s former-coach really well, and he thinks this course is really well suited to her style of riding, so if her knee can hold up, she is definitely in the running for a medal.

@chumpypullin

This will be the third Olympic appearance for Alex Pullin, who will come into the snowboard cross reigning favourite and absolutely the one to watch on social. He’s coming into South Korea with unfinished business. Given his disappointing results at the last two Olympics, he will be looking to take home the gold. Fun fact: Pullin is also a talented musician and singer, which creeps onto his Twitter feed every now and again.

@Aerialskier

David Morris is Australia’s best hope for a medal in the aerial skiing category. After winning silver in Sochi 2014 he is hungry for more. His social posts are very witty and humorous. He regularly posts videos of himself performing awe-inspiring stunts that are out of the realms of possibility. Take a deep dive in his back catalogue of off-season training videos too. These are both impressive, and give you some insight into the year-round training athletes have to undergo to compete at the Olympics.

@JackieNarracott

Jaclyn Narracott is Australia’s only female entrant in the skeleton category. She managed to nab a PB at the latest World Cup in Germany, and I’m excited to see her do the same in PyeongChang. Her Twitter feed is full of useful updates from the skeleton community and heartfelt posts about her own performance. Definitely an account you want to follow.

@RussHenshaw

Russell Henshaw will be the only Australian ski slopestyle representative at PyeongChang 2018. After an eighth place finish at the most recent World Cup he will be looking to push even higher at these Olympics. His Tweets are are a great laugh and give us a peek into what goes on inside the day-to-day mind of a top level athlete. His videos are impressive and certainly worth a watch.

So jump on Twitter and hit follow on these accounts to show some of our favourites a little local love and support while they compete for gold in South Korea.

And while you’re there, don’t forget to follow at @7Olympics to see key highlights and storylines from the 2018 Winter Olympics, and of course you can catch all of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games LIVE on 7, 7mate, and the Olympicson7app!

Whatever happens these games, I’m sure it will be what we least expect and I can’t wait to watch!