Dear XC Skiers,

What a start to the winter! Early snow conditions have been amazing across all the resorts and I’ve been very envious of those able to take advantage of them.

This past month has been busy. It was great to see Melbourne’s first ever FIS rollerski races take place at the end of May, and then quite exciting for the Snowy Mountains Nordic rollerski event in Jindabyne to be moved to Perisher due to so much snow and already groomed tracks. Last week the National Team had a very successful AIS Camp in Canberra, led by NSWACT coach Alexei Sotskov. NSWACT XC on-snow training has already begun at Perisher, and next week the first National Team on-snow camp takes place at Falls Creek.

Work is also afoot to refresh the Victorian Cross Country Committee (VIC XC) and re-energise the Victorian athlete development pathway after a significant decline due to Covid-19. Several community consultation meetings have already been held, and a preliminary meeting of a new committee is set to take place in Mt Beauty this Sunday July 26. Others interested to take an active role in XC development in Victorian should reach out to me via fmarsland@snow.org.au.

Though July and August have many racing events on the Cross Country Events Calendar, I would like to encourage up and coming athletes and their parents to strategically plan their season and decide which races they will target. Club events can be great training sessions and good for practicing race plans, but it is also important to make sure that junior skiers have plenty of time on snow for unstructured training and free skiing. More information on the XC development model is available in the Pathways section  of the Snow Australia site. 

Looking further ahead, preliminary planning has started for the 2022/2023 international season, in which we plan to send teams to the all the major events including the 2023 World Championships in Slovenia, the 2023 World Junior/U23 Championships in Canada, and the 2023 World University Games in the USA. To this end, we are calling for expressions of interest from coaches to support teams preparing for and competing at these events.

Finally, the Snow Australia XC discipline committee is seeking expressions of interest for new members to assist in overseeing the development of the sport. Interested people should apply before the end of July.

That’s it for now, I look forward to catching up with many of you on snow before too long.

Finn Marsland
Cross Country Skiing Program Director

It was a hive of activity at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) last weekend, with the Cross Country team joining the Emerging Talent Program (ETP) in the nation’s capital.

The three-day Cross Country training camp was designed to benchmark where the athletes are at before the domestic winter season, performing tests such as VO2 max tests, sub-maximal rollerski treadmill tests, rollerskiing and time trials.

The camp was attended by 12 athletes, including Winter Olympians Seve de Campo, Aimee Watson and Hugo Hinckfuss, and was led by NSWACT Cross Country coach Alexei Sotskov.

The Snow Australia Cross Country Committee (SAXC) is seeking expressions of interest from coaches and managers to work with the Cross Country Skiing High Performance Program at or preparing for the following international events/tours during the 2022/2023 season:

• 2022/2023 World Cup
• 2023 World Junior / U23 Championship, Whistler, Canada.
• 2022/2023 Junior Development Tour
• 2023 World University Games, Lake Placid, USA.
• 2023 FIS World Championships, Planica, Slovenia.

Interested persons should apply via email to Snow Australia Cross Country Skiing Program Director Finn Marsland (fmarsland@snow.org.au) by Friday July 8, 2022.

Melbourne hosted its first ever FIS event last month, the FIS Rollerski International at the Yarra Boulevard in Studley Park on the weekend of May 28/29.

On the women's side both the 1km Freestyle Sprint and the 5km Classic were on by Katerina Paul, recently returned from Switzerland after the northern hemisphere winter. The Sprint podium was rounded out by Damika Morton ahead of Hannah Price, while the next day in the 5km the positions were reversed and Price was the runner-up ahead of Morton.

Snow Australia has an extensive national racing calendar for cross country skiing, including skiing and rollersking events for all levels of participants, from kids, complete beginners and teenagers through to elite international competitors. More information about the Australian Cross Country Skiing Race Calendar is available on the AUSXC.com website.

Snow Australia is seeking expressions of interest for new members to join the National Discipline Committee for Cross Country Skiing (SAXC).

The vision of SAXC is to provide cross country ski racing opportunities for all levels of athletes and achieve international excellence through high quality programs and pathways supported by a vibrant skiing community.

Applicants should have a passion for cross country skiing, experience and skills that can assist in the development of the sport, and time availability to be involved. Areas of committee responsibility that need fresh input include grassroots development and fundraising, however input is always welcome into other areas such as high performance, events and coach development.
 

Snow Australia is pleased to announce a number of additional selections to the 2021/2022 National Team.

Seventeen athletes are now selected to the World Cup, Continental Cup and U23 National Teams, including the six athletes that represented Australia at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

"We have a great group of athletes in the pipeline at the moment," said Snow Australia Cross Country Director Finn Marsland. "The fantastic results acheived at the World Junior/U23 Championship earlier this year demonstrated the depth of talent coming through, and the future is looking bright."