Rosie Fordham creates Australian cross country history

In the history of international cross country skiing, no Australian athlete had ever finished on a major international podium.

Until now.

Rosie Fordham has written herself into Australian snowsports folklore with a second place finish at the U23 World Championships, taking the silver medal in the 10km Interval Start Free at Schilpario, Italy.

Starting 20th out of 74 athletes, Fordham was not one of the 15 seeded athletes but it was clear early on that something special was in the air.

As she passed the first interval at 3.33km, Fordham took 23 second lead over USA's Kendall Kramer, however as the seeded athletes continued to take their timechecks, the Australian remained on top.

It was not until Germany's Helen Hoffman - who started 12.5 minutes after Fordham - passed the first interval that Fordham was pushed into second place, just four seconds adrift.

Less than a minute after Hoffman took the provisional lead, Fordham passed the 6.67km checkpoint and was again in front, this time holding a 37 second advantage over Kramer.

Once again, higher-ranked athletes continued to pass the checkpoint but no one could surpass Fordham except for Hoffman who extended her advantage to 14 seconds.

Buoyed by support around the course and knowing she was having a career-best day, Fordham maintained the push through to the finish, stopping the clock at 33:02.1, 35 seconds clear at the front of the field.

Canada's Liliane Gagnon was nine seconds behind Fordham at the second interval, however when she crossed the line 12 seconds behind the Australian, a podium was all but confirmed. No one else bettered Fordham's time until Hoffman stormed up to victory, however it mattered little for the 22-year-old, for whom silver was tasted as sweet as gold.

"Oh my goodness, I can't believe that just happened," exclaimed Fordham post-race. "I was hoping for a top 10 on a good day and I was hearing the splits and I was like 'no way!' I can't believe it.

Fordham credited her performance to adherance to a game plan to start strong and see how long she could maintain the pace with the front-runners.

"I just went out hard, I always go out hard. This course was for me; it was big uphills it was terrible conditions, it was slow and that's what I love - just grinding hard out there."

The result was a big jump from Fordham's 40th place in the 10km Classic at the 2024 U23 World Championships in Slovenia, however there have been signs of her improvement at the highest level.

While Fordham only made her first World Cup appearances 12 months ago in Switzerland and the USA, she has has featured in five World Cups already this season already scored three top 40 results in 10km races.

The World Cup season continues throughout February and March with stops in Sweden, Norway, Estonia and Finland, however the biggest competition of the 24/25 campaign will be the World Championships in Trondheim, Norway from 26 February to 9 March.