Paul & de Campo lead FIS Continental Cup

The second round of the 2022 Australian Open Championship took place at Perisher on August 20-21. A short blizzard of snow on Friday morning turned into excellent racing conditions on the weekend, and there was a lot of close racing action. The event was organised by NSWACT XC on behalf of Snow Australia.

The time trial of the Freestyle Sprint on Saturday saw Katerina Paul and Lars Young Vik post the fastest times, however both skiers played a more tactical game to make their way through the finals.

In the women's semi-finals ACT junior Heli Laajoki opened with some hustle, leading the field over the top and into the last downhill, before Paul slingshot past on the bottom corner and led up the final climb. Victorian junior Maddie Hooker came from behind to pip NSW veteran Sarah Slattery right on the line and go through to the A-final with Paul.

From the other semi-final Phoebe Cridland and Zana Evans made an earlier break to also progress through a little more comfortably. In the final Evans led out of the start, with Cridland going to the front over the top of the course when no-one else wanted to lead. Paul pulled out her slipstream maneouver again to jump from third to first toward the bottom of the course, then put her foot down up the last hill. Evans moved into second up the climb and that was the final podium: Paul, Evans Cridland, with Hooker taking 4th.

“I had some time off due to illness in the week leading up to the races, but I was happy with coming away with the win in the skate sprint,” Paul said.
 
“All in all, it was a great weekend and run very well by the organisers up at Perisher.”

L-R Maddie Hooker, Zana Evans, Phoebe Cridland, Kat Paul

In the men's finals contention for the top two places was already fierce during the quarter-finals. Vik came from behind in the last 50m to make it through in the 1st quarter, while 11th seed Adam Barnett knocked out 6th ranked Valdis Bodnieks from Latvia in the 4th quarter.

In the semis Vik and Seve de Campo knocked out Lauro Braendli from Switzerland and Jacob Adicoff from the USA, and Fedele de Campo and Bentley Walker-Broose made it an all Australian final after holding off the second-ranked qualifier Peter Wolter from the USA and Barnett.

Vik took a different tactic into the A-final, leading from the front and holding a small gap down the long downhill. The chasing trio couldn't catch Vik on the last hill, with Seve de Campo holding on for second by just a few metres ahead of his younger brother Fedele and Walker-Broose.

"It was fun to be back racing and I’m satisfied with my win in the Freestyle Sprint on Saturday,” Vik said.

“I’m also very happy to see how competitive the field is getting, hopefully we can continue developing the sport here and all these young athletes.”
 

L-R Bentley Walker-Broose, Seve de Campo, Lars Young Vik, Fedele de Campo

A cold night brought out suberb classic track for the Sunday distance races. The top three women from the sprint featured again in the 5km Classic interval start.

Paul opened hot and led Cridland by 10 seconds after the first 2km, however paid the price as the course continued to climb to the highest point of nearly 1830m. By 4km on the run back towards the Nordic Shelter Cridland was in the lead by 20 seconds and closing on Paul who had started 30 seconds ahead, and it was neck and neck between Paul and Evans.

Paul held on to cross the line first but Cridland's time was quickest and she claimed her first ever national title. Evans took second place 23 seconds back, just three seconds ahead of Paul. Hooker was another minute back in fourth, just half a second ahead of Hannah Price in fifth.

“Perisher really pulled through on Sunday with some lovely weather and it was great to end the weekend of racing with a national championship win,” Cridland said.

The men's field in the 10km Classic was very tight after the first 2.5 kilometres, with the top seven men all within about 20 seconds. Swiss skier Braendli was an early starter and on the second lap was comfortably in the lead with 3/4 of the field through. The top seeds came through the upper part of the second lap in a rush.

Walker-Broose briefly took the overall lead before losing it to Seve de Campo, who was skiing with Vik who he had caught from 30 seconds behind. The backmarker Wolter was only one left with any chance for the top spot, but he was 10 seconds too short. That time gap remained about the same, de Campo winning his first Australian title 11 seconds ahead of Wolter, with Walker-Broose third and Vik fourth.

“I had a great time racing on the weekend and fighting for the top of the podium with some good quality competition,” Seve said. 

With four out of five races down in the 2022 FIS ANC Continental Cup Katerina Paul has a solid lead in the women's series standing, with 340 points ahead of Cridland with 280 and Evans with 260.

On the men's side Seve de Campo holds a slender lead of 340 points ahead of Vik on 310, then a sizable gap back to Walker Broose on 205 points.

The overall Continental Cup winners will be decided after the 42km Kangaroo Hoppet at Falls Creek next weekend.