SSA confirms key Cross Country staff appointments

Ski & Snowboard Australia (SSA) is pleased to announce the reappointment of key Cross Country personnel ahead of the 2019 Australian season. Finn Marsland and Valerio Leccardi will continue in cross country skiing program leadership roles, both with expanding responsibilities.

Finn will transition to a full-time position that will combine his existing part-time XC program director role with a new national coach education coordinator position.

Finn has been the SSA XC head coach/program director in varying capacities for over 19 years. In partnership with the AIS and University of Canberra he completed a PhD in cross country skiing performance analysis this year.  This newly created role will draw on Finn’s extensive coaching and coach education experience to oversee the development and delivery of online coaching courses across all disciplines as part of SSA’s commitment to improving the quality and depth of coaches in Australia.

Valerio has accepted a two-year contract extension to remain as national head coach and will assume increased responsibility for the overall cross-country skiing program direction, under the guidance of Finn.

As an athlete, Valerio competed for Switzerland at the Olympic Winter Games, World Championships and on the World Cup circuit between 2007-2013 where he made the sprint finals on more than 10 occasions. He became Australia’s head coach role in 2016/17 and led the Aussie team to the 2018 Olympics and 2017 & 2019 World Championships.