Alpine Director Update - March 2025

Image Courtesy of Chris Hocking

Dear Alpine Community,

With the northern season well past the halfway mark, our athletes are focusing on competitions across the globe. Having recently been able to attend both the Alpine World Ski Championships (WSC) in Saalbach AUT as well as the Alpine World Junior Championships (WJC) in Tarvisio ITA, I can tell you firsthand that not only our senior athletes but also the younger, next generation, have been stepping it up in competition.

The weather in Saalbach AUT was outstanding for the most part and the racing surface was top notch. Greta Small was the only athlete representing Australia in the first week for the speed events and unfortunately suffered a season ending injury on her Downhill run and has already begun her rehab back in Australia, wishing her all the best. The next week got busier with more athletes showing up to compete in the GS and SL races. Louis Muhlen-Schulte led the way in the GS for the Aussie men finishing 31st while Hugh McAdam unfortunately came out 1st run and was a DNF. Phoebe Heaydon suffered a similar fate coming out on her first GS run also recording a DNF. On the slalom side of things, Hugh McAdam led the way with a 38th while both Louis and Henry Heaydon suffered from DNF’s in the first run. Henry’s sister, Phoebe as well as teammate Sophie Mahon, attacked the Slalom but both also failed to make the finish recording a DNF.

While I believe that there was definitely a lot of fast skiing left on the table at the WSC, I was encouraged by what I saw. To watch athletes leaving the start gate with the intention to give it their best, not just skiing to finish, but to ski a run they could be proud of even if that meant risking a DNF. That mentality is a winning one, and the way forward for alpine skiing in Australia.

The weather got a little more challenging for World Junior Championships in Tarvisio ITA. Arriving we were facing pouring rain which overnight turned to 30cm+ of snow at the DH start causing competition to be postponed and schedules changed. Abbey Evans (2005) and Chiara Schoerghofer (2007) were both competing in the SG event which had to be moved one day due to weather and held the same day as the men. They adapted to the challenges and finished 36th and 41st respectively. From the speed week to the tech week the forecast was flipped again, and we were presented with clear and sunny skies but with temperatures reaching 15C by mid-day. The organisers did a fantastic job of maintaining the slopes and the tracks held up every day making for fair and great racing throughout the field. Some notable performances were Phoebe Heaydon (2005) starting from bib 53 in SL to 27th after 1st run and then skiing an aggressive 2nd run placing the 3rd fastest time to end her day in 17th place with Pia Bruce (2004) finishing in 36th. Harry Hoffman (2004) posted a top 20 in SL and Felix Sachs (2008) was 5th for U18 in GS and 6th in SL.

We have also seen some notable results at FIS International Children’s event in Folgaria ITA. Balthazar Sachs led the U14’s with a 5th place in SL and 11th in GS, while Sebastian Atra was the standout U16 placing top 20 in the GS with a 17th place result. Congratulations to all that participated, and I hope everyone walked away with a hunger to train harder!

In Ski Cross we have had some outstanding performances and hopefully more to come with the Freestyle World Ski Championships and Freestyle Junior World Championships coming up over the next month. Liam Michael has been selected to represent Australia at this year’s World Championships, in St. Moritz SUI, after being agonizingly close to qualifying at the last 3 World Cup events. Kyra Wheatley also stormed on to the scene at her World Cup debut in Val di Fassa ITA qualifying for both finals, ending up with a 13th and 14th place result, earning herself valuable points towards Olympic qualification. Kyra was also selected to represent Australia at the World Championships however she sustained an injury training and will be returning to Australia missing the remainder of the season. We wish Kyra a speedy recovery!

On the other side of the world, Duncan Cowan has continued to show his dominance on the Ski Cross NorAm circuit where he had 3 straight victories in Steamboat USA (2 NorAm and 1 FIS) followed by a 5th and 1st place in the NorAm’s in Gore Mtn. USA. Duncan now leads the NorAm season by over 200pts. and with only 1 event left on the calendar he guarantees himself the overall title.

Stay tuned, and cheer on, as our athletes continue to push for results through the final stretch of the season!!
All the best,
Shawn

Shawn Fleming
Alpine Director
Snow Australia

Read Full Update

In this update:

• Results Snapshot
• Engadin 2025 Team Annoucement | Ski Cross, Snowboard Cross & Alpine Snowbaord
• Snowlive
• 2025 FIS Training Options - TSRC
• Falls Creek Race Club are hiring: Coaches
• Snow Australia is hiring: Interschools Results Contractor
• Athletes in high demand for school mental health program
• Snow Australia announces Women of Winter Working Group
• 2025 Snow Australia Awards