Sitting in the press conference, her smile obvious despite being hidden by the ubiquitous mask, it was impossible not to be carried away with the sheer joy Jaclyn Narracott exuded with every answer, every glance at the medal hanging around her neck.

And she had every right to be thrilled.

Few would have given the 31-year-old from Queensland a chance against one of the tightest, most competitive fields in skeleton history.

After all, less than a month ago Narracott had never set foot on a skeleton podium at world level.

Ten years after first getting on a skeleton sled and eight years of toil on the World Cup circuit had resulted in no medals.

That all changed in St Moritz, Switzerland, in mid-January, thanks to a change in mindset. There, she became the first Australian to win a gold medal in the skeleton World Cup.

"I finally let go of the need to medal the week before St Moritz happened," Narracott said.

"I finally realised that my career wasn't going to be any worse or better if I did finally get that medal and, sure enough, let go of it and it happened – which is no coincidence, I'm well aware of that fact.

"There's always been that belief, but to actually get that concrete evidence in front of me and in front of everyone else, [that] was a bit of a game changer."

It was clearly a game changer, because fast forward a month and Narracott, beaming from ear to ear, is now not only a World Cup winner – Australia's first — but the proud owner of an Olympic silver medal.

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Her husband and coach Dom Parsons, a bronze medallist in skeleton for Great Britain in Pyeongchang, said he noticed the change after St Moritz.

"The main thing I noticed in [St] Mortiz was just her confidence and her belief in herself, because she'd proven, mainly proven to herself, that she can compete right up at the top," he said.

"That was really valuable for her here, she came here and was leading after the first day and it wasn't a surprise, she took it totally in her stride."

It is an extraordinary achievement to comprehend, particularly given the lonely road Narracott has had to tread on her journey, with minimal support.

"It's taken a lot," she said.

You're unlikely to hear many bigger understatements than that.

Firstly, there was the near-career-ending concussion issue suffered at the track in Calgary in what were her first two runs of the season after Pyeongchang.

So severe were her symptoms for six months afterwards – she said walking around the streets of her UK base in Bath was like being drunk — that it wasn't safe for her to go down the track anymore.

"The most scared I've ever been was the first runs back down the track at Whistler… because the consequences were that if I got off the sled after that run and I was dizzy, that was it."

Thankfully, it wasn't, but then COVID hit, ending a coaching partnership with the Canadian team two years ago.

She had to convince Parsons to be her coach and struck up a video partnership with the Dutch team that resulted in hours upon hours of Facetime calls back to Parsons to analyse after he finished work.

Then there's been the financial cost.

Narracott said the support she's had from the Olympic Winter Institute has helped "a lot" over the past four years, but there have been "plenty of maxed-out credit cards" and a persistent raiding of "the bank of mum and dad, like most of the small nations".

She estimated that it had cost her over $100,000 to pursue her dreams over the past four years, "but it might be more than that".

Narracott's success is a huge surprise — she even said it was "a little bit" of a surprise to herself.

"To medal in that field is unbelievable," she said, accompanied by one of many delightful giggles.

It was also a very pleasant surprise to Australia's chef de mission Geoff Lipshut, who acknowledged that he didn't really ever think that he'd be sitting next to a skeleton medallist at a Winter Olympics after funding for the sport was discontinued in 2014.

"Jackie's effort is a remarkable effort," he said.

"[She's] someone who's found a way to do something that's truly incredible."

Narracott's success might be a surprise, but it continues an extraordinary family Olympic legacy.

Jackie Narracott is the niece of Paul Narracott, who was the first Australian to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games when he made the switch from sprinting at the LA Games of 1984 to the bobsleigh at Albertville in 1992.

Led down the path from summer sports to winter, first paved by uncle Paul, Narracott made the switch from the track to the ice, starting off in bobsleigh before switching to the thrill of skeleton racing.

Before the Games, Paul Narracott said his niece was a chance of a medal. Turns out he was right.

"I know it means a lot [to him]," Narracott said.

"He messaged me to say he was so proud of me… I owe him a lot too. I've always wanted to emulate what he did.

"Without him leading the way, this probably wouldn't happen."

Now that she has achieved her life-long dream of winning an Olympic medal, she said it feels like she has reached something of a destination in her solo journey.

"It does feel a little bit like a destination, now that I think about it," she said.

"I said to my coach between runs, 'This is what it's supposed to feel like. This is what the whole thing was supposed to feel like'.

"I can't believe it actually happened."

When she returns home to Brisbane for the first time since October 2019 on Tuesday, no doubt there will be plenty of people to remind her that it actually did and that dreams can come true.