Barbara Jezersek
1986 -
 |
Discipline: Cross Country Skiing
Slovenian-born Barbara Jezersek started out as a swimmer and only participated in cross country skiing occasionally because her brother was a Nordic Combined athlete. A bout of bronchitis however forced her out of the pool and soon she was making junior national teams for Slovenia on the snow. She watched her brother Andrej compete at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Games and decided she wanted to beat his results. Barbara made her Olympic debut for Slovenia at the Vancouver 2010 Games finishing 14th in the 4 x 5km relay, 17th in the 7.5 km + 7.5 km Double Pursuit, and 40th in the 10km. Four years later at Sochi, again competing for Slovenia, she claimed 19th in the Skiathlon, 41st in the 10km Classic, 11th in the 4 x 5km relay, and 31st in the 30km Mass Start Free. Following the Sochi Games, Barbara moved to Australia and began instructing at Perisher, and after not competing for eight months, in 2016 she got her Australian citizenship and set her sights on PyeongChang. At her third Games, and first Olympics representing Australia, Barbara equaled the best Australian Olympic cross country skiing result with 33rd in the 10km Free. The result matches Chris Heberle’s 33rd place finish in the men’s 15km Classic event at the Calgary 1988 Games and beats the previous best by an Australian female which had been held by Colleen Bolton (35th - 10km Classic, 1980). Along with teammate Jess Yeaton, Barbara created more history by recording the nation's best Team Sprint result with 12th in the Ladies' Team Sprint Free. Barbara became Australia’s first ever cross country athlete to record a top 30 performance at a World Championships when she finished 24th in the 15km Skiathlon at the 2017 event in Lahti, Finland. She joined Jess Yeaton in the Team Sprint Free in Dresden 2017, to become the nation’s first-ever finalists in the event at a World Cup.
|
||
| Return to list | |||
