NCW 2023 | Seve de Campo on Balancing Cross Country Skiing, Engineering and Commerce

Being an elite cross country skier takes incredible dedication and motivation, especially when you compete in all events from the Sprint to 50km, like Beijing 2022 Olympian Seve de Campo.

You would be forgiven for thinking that cross country skiers don’t have much time for anything other than training, refuelling, resting and competing. However, as de Campo explains, having a post-athlete career to work towards has actually made him a better athlete.

De Campo is in his last semester of an Engineering and Commerce degree at the Australian National University in Canberra and is working casually at PwC Australia in a consulting role.

Before settling on his chosen degrees, the now 24-year-old thought that dedicating 100% of himself to training would be his ticket to the Olympic Games, but it didn’t work out the way he planned.

“After year 12 I took a year to focus almost entirely on training, eating and sleeping in what I hoped would be the journey to an Olympic gold in Cross Country Skiing,” he explained.

“That year I learnt a lot about myself and one thing was that I actually needed study and work to complement my skiing commitments, in order to actually stay motivated and balanced for long enough to be a successful athlete.

“Now having done five years of study/work and training, the balancing act for me has become pretty efficient. The variation across the year is important, knowing that the busy times won't last forever and being prepared to work hard both in training but on the books for certain periods needs to be accepted and embraced.”

De Campo says that staying organised, prioritising sleep and maintaining strong communication with his university allowed him to succeed both in class and on the snow.

“I've been pretty lucky as a winter athlete that most of my competition season occurs during the uni summer holidays, so that saves me a bit of stress during the race season,” he said. “But I do need to be on top of things during the Australian Winter and during high volume training periods. 

“I work with ANU by ensuring early and clear communication between the tutors and course convenors to best utilise the different support tools available to me as part of the Elite Athlete Scheme at ANU.

“They're continually improving but the main things would be requesting extensions when necessary and requesting special consideration for exams when needed.”

De Campo made his international debut at the 2017 FIS World Junior Championships in USA, and has since become a regular on the World Cup and World Championships circuit. At the 2023 World Championships in Planica, Slovenia, his best individual result came in the 15km Skiathlon, where he placed 52nd, before teaming up with Lars Young Vik to place 18th in the Team Sprint.

While he plans on having a long and fruitful cross country skiing career, de Campo said that his casual work experience with PwC is allowing him to dip his toe into a number of fields, which will be beneficial when he’s ready to hang up the ski boots.

“The casual hub at PwC has given me the opportunity to see a range of different teams and projects, including currently with Defence, and this would be something I will continue to give time to during my athletic career,” he said.

“After sport, I think I'd be looking forward to devoting more time to a passionate work environment. I'd love to use my Engineering and Commerce degrees to gain leverage and contribute to the world, whether that be through a consulting or more pure engineering setting.”

While studying and work has complemented his athletic pursuits, de Campo acknowledges that every athlete is on their own journey, but it is beneficial to consider post-athlete career goals.

“Every athlete is different, everyone has varying capacities and desires to how much study they can balance with their sport,” he said.

“I have seen many athletes, some that don't care for study and some that smash themselves at top universities in the world, and I think most of the time being able to combine study and sport benefits both the motivation for longevity and actual performance.

“For me, I decided to study in Canberra to feel like I'm growing in multiple areas of life, making friends outside of sport, and getting excited for what I can do after sport,” he explained.

“There is something to study or learn out there for everyone, it's a way to network, opens many different athlete and non-athlete support pathways and is a way to see the world.”