Indra Brown should have been speeding towards Zurich this morning.
The 16-year-old had a date in Calgary at the FIS Park and Pipe Junior World Championships and had been scheduled to leave Livigno at 6am.
Obviously the Olympic final took precedence over that. Flights can be rearranged.
When an Olympics calls, you jump when you're told.
But the fact that Brown had committed to the junior worlds says so much about the extraordinarily rapid rise she has experienced over the past few months.
In November, the then-15-year-old had never even competed in a senior FIS World Cup event.
By the end of January she had won three medals, including her maiden title at the Calgary Snow Rodeo and was in possession of an X-Games silver medal.
Her fifth-placed finish at the 2026 Winter Olympics is the best by an Australian teenager since Jakara Anthony came fourth in the moguls at PyeongChang in 2018 and is the best ever by an Australian under voting age.
Extraordinarily, fifth is the lowest finishing position Brown has ever experienced in a senior competition, again emphasising her meteoric elevation.
But, as incredible as it might seem for outsiders, Brown was desperately upset not to sneak a medal in one of the most stacked fields in history.
"Oh, it's incredible. To be able to land three runs at the Olympics is pretty special," she said, effectively masking any pain she was feeling far more effectively than any 16-year-old should be able to.
"To just show everyone what I can do and give a good show, I hope, for everyone was pretty special."
Some peculiarly harsh judging on Brown's admittedly cautious first run saw the Aussie teen behind the eight ball from the start, sitting sixth.
Her second run was not scored much better, the judges awarding her just 65.00 despite there being a significant improvement, including an impressive left cork 10 safety switch.
Aside from Gu, she was the only skier to complete a 1080 — three complete spins — in the entire field.
But at that stage it was already clear that it would take an astonishing turnaround for her to win a medal.
British rider Zoe Atkin had set a phenomenal first run to lead with 90.50, before Gu Ailing laid down the best run she has all week to rocket to the top of the standings with a 94.00, with Li Fanghui then delivering the run of her life to sit just behind her on 91.50.
Finally, in her final run, Brown was awarded a score befitting of the technical skill she had displayed, being handed a solid score of 87.00 to get into her final finishing position of fifth.
"I tried to build every run," Brown said.
"In my last run, I was able to land left cork 9 blunt, right cork 9 safety, left cork 10 safety switch, right 5 Japan, switch left cork 7, and then left alley-oop 5 mute.
"So yeah, [I was] stoked on that run.
"I've never put it down in competition, so I was really happy to."
Disappointingly, it had appeared that the judges had moved away from the technicality they were awarding in Thursday's qualifying to prioritise amplitude out of the side of the pipe, hurting the diminutive Brown's scores.
However, after Gu (94.75) and Li (93.00) both improved their scores with their final runs, Atkin must have expected to be rewarded for some monstrous height out of the pipe in her final run, only to just fall short of silver with a score of 92.50.
After Brown's final run she was embraced by eventual gold medallist Gu, who said earlier this week that she saw a lot of herself in the youngster from Melbourne.
"We just gave each other a big hug," Brown said.
"She was really proud for me and it's really cool.
"She's sort of what I idolised, so to have her give me a hug at the end of my last run at the Olympics is pretty special."
While the more experienced riders were celebrating their medals, the youngest woman in the field will be heading back to her accommodation in Livigno and packing up before heading to the airport.
Then to Canada, where she will get to work gaining the sort of confidence and experience that will further elevate her performance leading into the next Olympic cycle.
"I'm just gonna go over there and see how it goes," she said.
"Enjoy it not to put too much expectations on."
Like it or not, expectations have been raised by Brown's extraordinary debut season in the elite.
And it's hard to argue that they've not been met, her stunning debut Olympic performance yet another positive sign for this youthful Australian team at these Games.
