World Cup season underway for cross country crew

Courtesy olympics.com.au

Australia’s cross country skiing contingent have opened their World Cup campaign with some solid performances in Davos, Switzerland.

The event kicked off with the Sprint events where both Barbara Jezersek and Phil Bellingham went close to qualifying for the top 30 and a coveted place in the finals.

Jezersek was just under three seconds off, placing 36^th with a time of 3:04.07 while Jessica Yeaton was 1.83 seconds further back in 47^th. Fellow Aussies Aimee Watson and Katerina Paul were 72^nd and 74^th.

In the men’s event Bellingham was 49th, just 2.67 seconds out of the Sprint Finals, as Callum Watson claimed 80^th, Mark Pollock, 100^th and Paul Kovacs 107^th.

Attention turned to the longer distance events on Sunday where the Aussies were once again well represented.

Jezersek was the first Australian across the line in the 10km Freestyle in a time of 27:11.2, with Yeaton in 60^th and Watson in 84^th.

In the men’s 15km Freestyle Bellingham claimed 89^th in a time of 39:44.5, Watson placed 100^th, Kovacs 107^th and Lillehammer 2016 youth Olympian Liam Burton was in 109^th.

The team will now head east to Toblach in northern Italy for next weekend’s second World Cup event featuring a 10km/15km Freestyle event on Saturday and a 10/15km Classic Pursuit event on Sunday.