Crawford makes history at Junior World Championships

In a historic moment for Australian Ski Cross racing, Doug Crawford has clinched the nation's first medal in the discipline at a FIS Junior Ski World Championships with his third place effort in Reiteralm, Austria.

After placing fifth in the morning qualification runs, he improved on his performance by two spots to take bronze!

Crawford said the great result was big relief for him in his last Junior World Championship event.

"I came to Austria gunning for a medal and the third place from today is a huge weight off my shoulders in my home away from home race.

" The course was full on, it was quite bumpy and hard on the legs all day. There was strong competition and I’m so happy to reach one of my biggest goals so far!

"I have to thank Fritz Mayerhofer, Maxi (Austrian physio), Martin Palacios (ski tech), Tomas and the rest of the team for their amazing support throughout the season," he said.

Adding a special mention to "mum, dad and all my family for their continued support."

In other Australian results from the Ski Cross event, Liam Michael placed 33rd and Alfred Wenk came in at 42nd.

Next up at the international event in Austria will be the Snowboard Cross qualification runs on Sunday 31 March, followed by finals on Monday 1 April.

To view official results - click here.