Dream come true for Hugo Hinckfuss named Snowsports Young Achiever of the Year

Rising cross-country skier Hugo Hinckfuss has been named 2021 Snowsports Young Achiever of the Year after a strong year despite the limitations COVID has presented.

The Snowsports Young Achiever of the Year award recognises a young athlete who has achieved excellence both on and off the snow and has given back to their snow community.

The 18 year old from Canberra received the good news just prior to heading to Switzerland where he will represent Australia at the 2021 World University Games. He will also go on to represent Australia at the 2022 World Juniors in February 2022.

Since he got his start in cross country skiing in year five at Interschools, Hinckfuss has gone on to make a name for himself in the sport already, earning a team position at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games,

Although COVID made for interrupted training throughout the year, Hugo’s resourcefulness saw him access various sources of coaching expertise including a personal coach from Norway, strength and conditioning coaching in the ACT, and on-snow coaching at Perisher.

At the 2021 Australian Championships, Hugo's hard work paid off with his first ever Open Sprint final and fifth overall in the 15km, which also qualified him for the 2022 World Junior Championship.

Off snow Hugo has excelled academically, undertaking a double degree in Engineering and Advanced Computing at the Australian National University (ANU).

His passion for the sport goes beyond competing, including coaching roller skiing with ACT junior skiers, assisting with the ACT Snowsports sale, and delivering sessions of Little Gliders within the Sport Australia Sporting Schools program.

Hugo admitted he was surprised, but very excited, to be named the 2021 Snowsports Young Achiever of the Year.

“I always saw the award as something that I wouldn’t achieve. I saw a lot of others achieving some really cool things, so the Young Achiever of the Year Award was something that I thought wouldn’t be attainable.

“It was pretty unfortunate that I couldn’t go overseas for the last northern winter... but I used the opportunity to get in some really good hours of training.

“I also had a really good season in Australia this year, and had some of my best ever results. I ended up performing significantly better than what I was expecting.

“I have a fair few races on the calendar for the next four months. My goal is to show how much progress I’ve made in the last two years, and I really hope that my results show some really strong progress.

“I’m really looking forward to staying in Europe for an extended period of time and being able to get some quality time on snow... training and racing against the best people in the world that are my age.

“Going to an Olympics as a competitor is the ultimate goal for me, that would be huge. As a fan, watching Beijing 2022 will be amazing to see what the Australian team can do,” he said.

While Hugo is on the long list for the Beijing 2022 team, his athletic development goals are building towards the Winter Olympic Games in 2026. Along the way he hopes to complete his double degree and continue to be a part of a growing cross country skiing community.