Cross Country Coordinator Update - April 2022
Published Thu 21 Apr 2022
Dear XC Skiers,
What a remarkable international racing season we have just experienced. Despite the majority of them having missed the 2020/2021 season and a fair chunk of two Aussie winters due to Covid-19, Australian cross country skiers took the northern winter by storm and achieved a stack of Australian best and personal best results on the international stage.
Some notable milestones and achievements include:
- Six cross country skiers selected to Beijing 2022
(equalling record set in 2018) - Australia’s best ever individual result at an Olympics (31st)
- 13 athletes qualified to race World Cup
- 32 FIS registered athletes raced in Europe or North America
- Six top 30 results posted at the World Junior/U23 Championships
- First ever Sprint finals appearances at the World Juniors
- Ten podium results achieved in FIS competition in Europe
- First ever Mixed Relay team entered at the U23 World Championship
Kudos to all these athletes and their efforts to follow their dreams, big and small. Hats off to all the coaches and wax technicians doing their best to give these athletes a chance to compete on a level playing field.
Back in Australia we are now in the middle of the rollerski racing season. There was a great turn-out and fortuitous weather for the Australian Rollerski Championships in Canberra earlier this month. The next big event on the rollerski calendar is the FIS International in Melbourne on May 28/29, which will be the first FIS race of any sort to be held in the city.
On a personal note, I was excited a week or so ago to see a new cohort of up-and-coming junior skiers make their debut at the April AIS testing camp, with most of them rollerskiing on a treadmill for the first time. I look forward to seeing how they progress on the snow this winter, following in the tracks of the many skiers that have gone before them and hopefully setting new tracks as well.
Finally, the 2022 Snow Australia Awards will be held next week in Melbourne on Thursday 28 April. As a great opportunity to bring together the Snowsports community, I hope you can join us and celebrate our athletes’ achievements and performances.
Finn Marsland
Cross Country Skiing Program Director
In this update:
