Jezersek and Bellingham lead the charge at Falls Creek in XC

Barbara Jezersek and Phil Bellingham have dominated the second half of the Cross Country Skiing Australian National Championships after they topped the podium on both days of the event, winning the Classic Sprint on Saturday and the 10/15km Freestyle races on Sunday.

Despite Bellingham being just beaten out in qualifying by Paul Kovacs in the Classic Sprint he steadily moved his way through the quarter and semi-finals before blowing away the field in the opening minute of the final to eventually go on to claim a comfortable win. Fellow Sochi Olympian Callum Watson finished second while Miles Havlick from the USA rounded out the podium.

He backed it up in the 15km Freestyle where, after a close first 10km, he accelerated away from the competition to win in a time of 36:45. Once again it was Watson winning silver, 34 seconds off Bellingham, with Havlick finishing another 22 seconds further back. Kovacs was the third highest finishing Australian.

In the women’s events it was all about two-time Olympian Jezersek. She dominated throughout the Sprint competition, easily winning the qualifying time trial before claiming her semi by 18 seconds and then the final by just under 7 seconds.

Fellow PyeongChang 2018 hopefuls Katerina Paul and Aimee Watson shared the podium with Jezersek while Asian Winter Games bronze medallist Casey Wright claimed fourth.  

In the 10km Freestyle Jezersek won by just under two minutes ahead of the French skier and Falls Creek XC Ski School coach Iris Pessey with Aimee Watson in third.

“This past weekend at Falls Creek was fantastic,” said Jezersek, who has twice competed for Slovenia in Olympic competition but, having gained her Australian citizenship, is aiming to wear the green and gold at PyeongChang 2018.  

“I haven't won any Classic Sprints before so was quite surprised. That tells me my training is going as planned.

“The 10km Skate race was just fantastic - the weather was great and conditions just superb. I started a bit reserved because the track was quite challenging, on the second lap I just kept the pace and the last 1km pushed harder to secure my win.

“It was good training for the upcoming Kangaroo Hoppet marathon which is my specialty - the longer the race the stronger I am. I’m looking forward to my 3rd Kangaroo Hoppet.”

The grueling 42km Kangaroo Hoppet event will take place this Saturday at Falls Creek with many of Australia’s PyeongChang hopefuls again in action. 

Article courtesy AusXC / olympics.com.au