Cross Country Director Update - January 2024

Dear XC Skiers,

It has been a busy northern hemisphere winter so far, with over 30 Australian skiers taking part in FIS events across Europe and North America. From the National Team side highlights have included five athletes racing the pre-2025 World Championship World Cup in Trondheim in December, Seve de Campo completing the Tour de Ski for the first time, and some impressive results at both the USA and Austrian Championships in January.

Coming up next on the racing schedule in Europe is the World Cup in Goms, Switzerland on January 26-28. Six Aussies are set to race in Goms, including three who already raced World Cup in December (Seve de Campo, Ellen Soehol Lie and Phoebe Cridland) and three who will take part in World Cup for the first time this season (Rosie Fordham, Lars Young Vik and Bentley Walker-Broose).

For those curious about World Cup selection this season, FIS has a new qualification system in place. Instead of a single result under 120 FIS points, athletes now need to have their FIS point 5-race average less than 150 points to be eligible to enter. Because of the change, FIS has also been open to granting discretionary starts. Fedele de Campo was one beneficiary of this in December - Fedele had points <150 on the first FIS list for 2023/2024, but with high FIS penalties in the 2023 Australian winter his points jumped to just over 150 points on the list valid for the December World Cups. In this instance, the FIS race director approved an exemption for Fedele. The rationale behind selections for each World Cup are included on this selection information page.

The other big event starting this month is the 2024 Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, Korea, with the cross country events taking place between January 29 to February 1. AUSXC is set to be represented by the quartet of Samuel Johnson, Clancy Harvey, Satara Moon and Rosie Franzke, supported by coach Anna Trnka and wax tech Toni Escher. Two other members of the AUSXC Junior Team (Phoenix Sparke & Ava McCann) are also racing in Gangwon as part of a team of six Biathletes. The full Australian Team for Gangwon is linked below.

Straight after the YOG, the 2024 World Junior and U23 Championships kick off on February 5 at Planica in Slovenia. Eight Junior and U23 athletes have already been pre-selected for Planica, with the national selection committee still considering additional discretionary selections. When confirmed, the final team for Planica will be listed here. The team for Planica will be supported by AUSXC head coach Alexei Sotskov, manager Victoria Sotskov, assistant coach Adam Barnett, and wax techs Fabian Mauz and Toni Escher.

Last but not least, Australia has a large contingent heading to the Masters World Cup next month in Vuokatti, Finland. About 15 Aussies are expected to start, competing in distances from 5km to 30km. There are 13 age classes at the event,  ranging from 30-35 year-olds to the over 90's. Start and result listed will be available on the Masters World Cup website.

Best wishes to all for the ongoing winter or summer, wherever you may be.

Finn Marsland
Snow Australia Cross Country Director

Read Full update

This edition includes:

• Seve de Campo completes ultimate World Cup endurance test
• YOG - Gangwon 2024
• Austrian Championships
• 2023 Service to Snowsports
• Snowlive