The former Canberra gymnast and two-time world champion was one of the gold medal favourites going into the event, which was delayed after a blizzard on Sunday night.

The conditions were tough again but Peel navigated her way through the early stages and made it to the aerials super final in Beijing despite some nervy moments.

But it all came down to one last jump and Peel needed to land safely to be any hope of being a medal contender.

Peel, the Australian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, couldn't hide her emotion after the final.

"I'm just disappointed. I can jump a lot better than I did tonight," a tearful Peel said.

"I wish I could've shown my best jumps tonight.

"I had nothing to lose [in the final] ... I could have stretched a little earlier and then just had a bit too much rotation and couldn't put it down.

"I don't know [if this is my last Olympics], I might need more than five minutes to think that one over."

She flew through the air and looked good, but it wasn't meant to be. She fell backwards at when her skis hit the ground and her medal hopes were dashed in an instant, with no second chances in the final. In the end she had to settle for fifth.

"She was beautiful in the air," said commentator and mentor Jacqui Cooper. "But unfortunately going that high and going that far down the landing hill, it didn't give her the possibility to land that jump."

The day started in style, but there were signs of what was to come in the finals qualification stage. Peel let out a sigh of relief when she snuck into the super final, despite almost botching the landing on her final opportunity to compete for a medal.

Her hand hit the ground and her heart was in her mouth, staring at the possibility of being knocked out before the serious part of the competition.

Peel had just watched Australian teammate Danielle Scott have her dreams shattered when she failed to land safely.

But luckily for Peel, the judges gave her a score high enough to secure a spot in the final six. "The dream is still alive," Cooper said.

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Teresa Harrington is still in a state of disbelief she gave birth to an Olympian. Even though the Beijing Winter Olympics will be Laura Peel's third.

Throw in the fact world-champion Peel is one of the favourites for the gold medal in the women's aerials and she's just in awe of her daughter.

Harrington was getting the chips and dips ready for a late-night session on the couch on Sunday night, when Peel's qualifying begins, with the Canberran aiming for her third final, which will be held on Monday night.

Peel comes in as the reigning and two-time world champ, having soared to the top of the podium in Kazakhstan a year ago.

The 32-year-old finished fifth at the Olympics in South Korea in 2018 and seventh in Russia four years earlier.

She comes into the Games in good form, having won her last World Cup event in the USA last month.

Hopefully Peel's primed to continue Australia's strong tradition in the women's aerials, with Lydia Lassila claiming Olympic gold in 2010 and Alisa Camplin-Warner doing the same in 2002.

Harrington will have everything crossed hoping her daughter does exactly that.

It would cap a remarkable journey for Peel, whose first passion was gymnastics - although she quickly fell in love with skiing when her mother introduced her to it.

But it wasn't until after she retired from gymnastics, when she was 18, that Peel became involved in the Australian aerials program.

"It's a huge amount of pressure that's put on all of the favourites. She's insulated from all of that being in China, well a lot of it anyway," Harrington said.

"She's absolutely focused on what she wants to do, what she has to do and she said she had a good training the other day.

"I don't know what it will mean [if she wins], I really don't. It's beyond my comprehension that I have a child that I gave birth to that is in the Olympics.

"This is her third Olympics and I still find it incredible that my daughter is doing this. I'm in absolute awe of her.

"Not only is she good at this, she's such a nice person - and I don't say that about everybody.

"I will have all of my appendages crossed and hope it goes really well."

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