Distant events await Aussie cross country team in Toblach

Courtesy: www.olympics.com.au 

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING: Following some promising performances at the opening World Cup event in Davos, Australia’s cross country skiing team have arrived in Toblach for their second and final World Cup before Christmas.

Australia’s PyeongChang hopefuls will be in action in Italy as they look to push towards Olympic qualification.

The event will feature a Ladies 10km Free and a Men’s 15km Free on Saturday before a Ladies 10km Classic Pursuit and a Men’s 15km Classic Pursuit on Sunday.

Coach Valerio Leccardi is confident the team can build on last week’s performances.

“All in all I was happy how the team performed last weekend,” Leccardi, who represented Switzerland at Vancouver 2010, said.

“The race course in Davos was a tough one in the distance race but the athletes managed to show their potential in both races but I'm sure we will see even better results in the next World Cup races (in Toblach).

“The main goal for them is to make the finals and with only a couple of seconds out of the top 30 this goal is not far away anymore.

“We’ve just finished training in Davos now and are now in Toblach where we will do our race preparation and ski test on Friday to be ready for the two distance races on Saturday and Sunday.”

The event will have a little bit more meaning for Barbara Jezersek who, having competed for Slovenia at two Winter Olympic Games, is now looking to push towards PyeongChang in the green and gold.  

“This event is going to be special because my parents will come and see me race for the first time as an Aussie and they will proudly cheer with a new flag.

“Toblach is my favourite venue. It’s great course with lots of hills and I love to race there.”

Alongside Jezersek, Phil Bellingham, Callum Watson and Jessica Yeaton will all line up at the event. 

The men’s 15km Free will be broadcast live on Eurosport at 23:45 Saturday with the Women’s 10km Free delayed at 8:30 Sunday morning.

Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au