XC Junior Camp at AIS

Australia's best up-and-coming cross country skiers headed to Canberra in mid-April to take part in a physical testing and training camp at the AIS.

Fourteen athletes between the ages of 16 and 19 from NSW, ACT and Victoria were put through their paces under the tutelage of National Team coaches.

Spirits were high after Australia's best ever team performance at the 2022 World Junior Championship in Lygna, Norway earlier this year, with many of the younger athletes also excited to catch up with their peers after two years with no Australian Junior Championships and limited national camps.

Testing protocols included maximal and sub-maximal efforts ski-running and rollerskiing on treadmills in the AIS physiology lab, a rollerski double pole time trial on Canberra's bike paths, and a 1000m run on the AIS track.

The athletes were also put through a physical screening battery and took part in educational sessions on nutrition and high performance pathways.

The most experienced athlete on the camp was 19-year-old Hugo Hinckfuss, fresh from making his Winter Olympic debut in February and posting two top 30 results at the World Junior Championships.

One of the few athletes on the camp to have been through all the testing protocols before, Hinckfuss bettered his previous time on the ski running maximal test by over two minutes and improved his PB on double pole test by around a minute.

"It was fun to take a step up overseas and see how I stack up against the world's best, but also really cool now to see both where I've made progress and where I can improve," said Hinckfuss, now back at home in Sydney after the camp.

Camp coaches, including national coach Valerio Leccardi, NSW-ACT coach Alexei Sotskov, and guest coach / U23 team athlete Emily Champion, were also all highly complimentary about the AIS experience.

"This was a great opportunity to bring the top junior skiers together to share last year's experiences," said Sotskov, who was attending this annual junior camp for the first time. "It's the perfect time to undertake ski specific benchmark testing and set goals for the upcoming year."

Dryland training for all the junior squad athletes continues for the next couple of months using general aerobic training modalities such as running, cycling and swimming, with more specific rollerski training increasing as they head into the winter. Senior team athletes will undertake similar testing protocols at the AIS in June.