Nine-Strong XC Team Announced for World Junior & U23 Championships

Nine athletes have been selected to represent Australia at the 2022 Nordic World Junior and U23 Championships in Lygna, Norway, from February 22-27.

The team, which incliudes five skiers who have raced in World Cup events this season and two coming directly from the Winter Olympics, looks to be one of the strongest to compete at this level of competition in many years.

The team has assembled in Norway from three continents.

Hugo Hinckfuss and Lars Young Vik have flown directly to Oslo from Beijing after making their Winter Olympic debut on the tracks at Zhangjiakou.

Tuva Bygrave, Rosie Fordham and Lily Murnane travelled from the USA, where they were racing on the US college circuit.

The rest of the team flew up from central Europe with the event lead coach Alexei Sotskov, where they have been training and racing since mid-November.

Head Coach Sotskov said the team will draw on their extensive international experience this season.
 
“We’ve had a lot of great experience this season racing mostly against the Swiss and Austrians," Sotskov said from Lygna.

“The athletes are excited now to be in Norway and are ready to try themselves against the rest of the world.”

It’s been a long season already but the skiers have been racing well in recent weeks.

Several athletes scored personal best results in the Austrian Cup in Ramsau at the end of January, and the youngest team member Evans has been consistently on the podium in the junior category in Swiss and Austrian FIS races over the past month or more. Vik and Hinckfuss are also fired up after getting a taste of Olympic competition in China.

 
Though there are not enough athletes to enter the Junior relays, for the first time Australia will compete in the mixed-U23 relay event.

Involving two women and two men racing 5km each, this event was introduced to the Championship schedule in 2020 and Beijing Olympic Vik said he's excited to have the opportunity to compete in the Team event after missing the Team Sprint in China.
 
“After witnessing the team sprint at the Olympics from the sidelines I’m super fired-up for the U23 team event," Vik said, just prior to leaving China. “There are few events where we race as part of a team, so we have to seize the opportunity.”

Event Schedule

It’s not too late to support the team! Though other team fundraising activities were curtailed due to Covid-19 restrictions, some of the accommodation expenses at the WJC-U23s will be offset by funds raised via the Sundeck Cup in August. Additional tax-free donations can be made via this link.