Alpine Director Update - September 2023
Published Fri 08 Sep 2023
Dear Alpine Community,
While the winter has been a bit of a fizzle, our athletes’ performances certainly haven’t. From Alpine to Ski Cross, ANC to Childrens level competitions, our athletes have been taking advantage of every opportunity provided to them. Across the resorts many traditional training venues have been limited due to snow cover, however the opportunity to focus on skill development and fundamentals has been readily available with all of the clubs being flexible in their training approaches. This has been apparent in many great performances over the last weeks both here in Australia and in New Zealand.
We had a very successful ANC SX and Futures event down in Mt Hotham, which saw over 30 Australian athletes taking part. Mt. Hotham resort provided an excellent venue, especially given the snow situation this year. The resorts continued commitment to SX and SBX along with early season snow farming helped to provide a high-level track which challenged all ability levels. National Team athletes Doug Crawford, Alfred Wenk and Jesse Quinn helped over the Futures days to share their experiences and help inspire the next generation of SX athletes. See results HERE
We had a great week of competition in Mt Buller for the Snow Australia Children’s Carnival. A massive thanks to the effort of Mt Buller lift company, and their race and events department, for providing a great venue on the summit which saw the running of 4 SL races and 2 Panel SL races. Leading off the week on the Monday we ran the Club Skills Challenge which saw over 120 athletes, across U14 and U16, compete across 3 unique skills challenges being assessed by head coaches from all the race clubs. Thredbo Ski Racing Club took the trophy for a second year in a row although the competition was close on their heels. See results HERE
Congratulations to the overall winners: U14 Female Eliza Sweeney Ramasundara (TSRC) , U14 Male Xavier Lees (TSRC) , U16 Female Lara Kelly (MBRC), and U16 Male Archie Gould (FCRC).
With all of the FIS races being cancelled in Australia we have had many athletes over in NZL competing in FIS and ANC races. National Team and Olympic Winter Institute athlete Louis Muhlen-Schulte has had a great start to the New Zealand race series winning both National Championship SL and GS races while also taking 2nd in an ANC GS race. This has seen Louis score multiple personal best results, winning the ANC GS bib, and should see his World Rank in GS sit just inside the Top 50 in the world. There are still more races coming over the next week in NZL with over 30 Australian athletes taking part.
Fast skiing to all those athletes competing!!
Shawn Fleming
Alpine Director
Snow Australia
In this edition:
- Para Season Wrap Up
- 2023 Children's Carnival Results
- Louis Skiing Up a Storm to Start the Season
- Huge Week of Ski Cross and SBX Action at Hotham
- Bright Snowsports Future For Snow Australia Para FUTURES Athletes
- Para Athletes Take It to The Next Level at Alpine and Snowboarding Development Camp
- Snowracer NZ - Emergency Transport Insurance
- Membership - Now Open
