Cross Country & SkiMo - 2023/24 Season Wrap

Our cross country skiers and ski mountaineers are some of the fittest athletes in snowsports and they need to be to take on the arduous events they do over a long season.

The 2023/24 campaign saw new ground broken by a number of athletes as the countdown to Milano-Cortina 2026 crosses another year off the calendar.

CROSS COUNTRY
Our cross country skiers definitely deserve a break at the end of a long campaign, but rest is not something that comes easily for these athletes. Their 2023/24 season started back in the domestic winter with the FIS Australia New Zealand Cup series in July and August, won by Katerina Paul and Seve de Campo, before the athletes headed overseas for the northern winter. While victory meant back-to-back Continental Cups for de Campo, it was Paul’s fifth win and seventh time she has been in the top two positions.

The first outings of the World Cup season came in Östersund, Sweden where Fedele de Campo made his debut alongside brother Seve in the Sprint and 10km races.

The pair were joined by a larger Australian contingent the following week in Trondheim, site of the 2025 World Championships. Tuva Bygrave was at just her second World Cup, and her first in more than two years. Ellen Soehol Lie (44th), Phoebe Cridland (47th) and Bygrave (49th) all took top 50 results in the Skiathlon, with Cridland and Bygrave recording their best World Cup results.

In January, Seve de Campo became just the third Australian to ever finish the famed Tour de Ski. His campaign was in doubt when he contracted COVID 10 days before the opening stage and he was seconds from the time cut-off on stage two before going on to complete the gruelling event. De Campo improved his position on every stage to eventually finish 50th overall.

Later in January, 15 young athletes competed at the Austrian Championships, many of them rounding out their preparation for the Junior/U23 World Championships or Youth Winter Olympic Games. Highlights for the weekend included top-five Sprint qualifying results by U23 skiers Emily Champion and Bentley Walker-Broose, sprint final experience for a handful of athletes, and a senior podium performance by Champion in the 10km Classic.

Samuel Johnson, Clancy Harvey, Satara Moon and Rosie Franzke achieved career highlights when they were selected to represent Australia at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, Korea. The quartet claimed a hard-fought 18th place in the 4x5km Mixed Relay. Individual bests included Rosie 38th and Satara 44th in the 7.5km Classic, Sam 42nd in the Freestyle Sprint, and Clancy 48th in the 7.5km Classic, all in fields of around 80 competitors. A great experience for these young athletes who we hope to see at World Juniors in the coming years.

At the Goms World Cup in Switzerland, each of the three Australian women scored World Cup points: Ellen Soehol Lie 49th in the Sprint and Phoebe Cridland (49th) and Rosie Fordham (50th) in the 20km. The Mixed Relay Team of Ellen, Rosie, Seve de Campo and Lars Young Vik battled to 16th place in the 4x5km, moving Australia up to 22nd in the overall Nation Cup rankings. Bentley Walker-Broose raced his first World Cup since 2021 and scored a solid 70th place in the Sprint.

At the 2024 World Junior/U23 Championship in Planica, Slovenia, 11 Australian athletes contested 13 events across seven days of competition.

The outstanding result of the championship was Rosie Fordham's 19th place in the 20km Freestyle, Australia's best result at a World U23 Championship since 2008. Phoebe Cridland also racked up a PB in the same race, finishing 37th. and a gutsy team 14th place in the 4x5km U23 Relay.

On the Junior side, highlights included a sprint final appearance (top 30) for Jayden Spring in the Sprint, and personal best performances by Maddie Hooker (51st in the Sprint) and Heli Laajoki (71st in the 10km Classic).

While that event was taking place, Canadian resident Nic Blackwell made his World Cup debut in Canmore. He took on a full suite of races, with his best performances 56th in the 15km Freestyle Mass Start and 60th in the 20km Classic Mass Start.

For many athletes on the circuit, including six Australians, the Minneapolis World Cup was a highlight of the season. The USA rarely hosts WC events the local crowd came on in force to help create an incredible atmosphere. Hugo Hinckfuss recorded two PBs in Minneapolis with 40th in the 10km Freestyle and 49th in the Sprint. In her first World Cup since 2022, Jessica Yeaton finished 45th in the 10km, squeezing in by 15 seconds ahead of Rosie Fordham who was top 40 in the first half before fading to 49th. Tuva Bygrave finished 59th in both events, with Seve de Campo 65th and 62nd in the Sprint and 10km, and Bentley Walker-Broose 71st and 75th in the same events.

Rounding out the season at the Drammen World Cup in Norway in March, Ellen Lie was 45th in the Sprint, while Lars Young Vik was 61st. Australia ended the World Cup season ranked 17th for women and 22nd for men, collectively scoring a record 101 points.

These results brought down the curtain on the World Cup season, however plenty of athletes continued to race throughout North America and around Europe even into April.

SKI MOUNTAINEERING
As we move within two years of Ski Mountaineering making its Olympic debut, a small but passionate group of Australians continued their SkiMo journey.

Phil Bellingham lead the charge at the start of the year, taking on four World Cups in Andorra, Spain, Switzerland and Italy. His best results were 45th place finishes in the Individual Race at Comapedrosa, Andorra and the Sprint at Boi Taull, Spain. Phil consistently met the 2026 Olympic qualifying standard in all Sprint events, even despite some equipment and transition issues in a couple of races.

Kate Zander raced most of the season domestically in the USA, Travelling to Europe just once at the end of the season for the Cortina World Cup Italy. Here Kate came away with 20th in the Individual Race, Australia’s equal best result of the season. She was also 33rd in the Vertical and 39th in the Sprint.

Joining Zander with a 20th place finish and also only competing in the Cortina World Cup was trail runner-turned Ski Mountaineer Lara Hamilton who achieved the feat in the Vertical Race. She was also 49th in the Sprint.

Innika de Rosa had a fantastic season, finishing 45th on the overall standings. She showed great versatility across the discipline, scoring a 25th place In the Individual Race in Cortina, Italy and 31st in the Vertical Race in Schladming, Austria.

In her second season racing SkiMo World Cup, Anna Trnka put aside her XC coaching hat (Anna coached the XC YOG team in Gangwon) to take on two SkiMo World Cups in the middle of the season. Her best results came with 33rd place finishes in the Individual Race at the Marmotta Trophy in Italy and the Vertical Race in Schladming. 

Brian Lichi made his SkiMo World Cup debut this season, finishing 56th in the Vertical race and 67th in the Sprint at Schladming, Austria and 70th in the Sprint at the Marmotta Trophy in Italy.

Australia finished the season 21st on the World Cup Nation Ranking. 

This is the last in our series of season wraps across all the disciplines who competed on the World Cup circuit throughout the northern winter. Follow these links to read our other discipline wraps:

Para Alpine/Para Snowboard | Alpine/Ski Cross | Aerials & Moguls | Snowboard Cross & Alpine Snowboard