Dear XC Skiers,

It has been a busy northern hemisphere winter so far, with over 30 Australian skiers taking part in FIS events across Europe and North America. From the National Team side highlights have included five athletes racing the pre-2025 World Championship World Cup in Trondheim in December, Seve de Campo completing the Tour de Ski for the first time, and some impressive results at both the USA and Austrian Championships in January.

Coming up next on the racing schedule in Europe is the World Cup in Goms, Switzerland on January 26-28. Six Aussies are set to race in Goms, including three who already raced World Cup in December (Seve de Campo, Ellen Soehol Lie and Phoebe Cridland) and three who will take part in World Cup for the first time this season (Rosie Fordham, Lars Young Vik and Bentley Walker-Broose).

For those curious about World Cup selection this season, FIS has a new qualification system in place. Instead of a single result under 120 FIS points, athletes now need to have their FIS point 5-race average less than 150 points to be eligible to enter. Because of the change, FIS has also been open to granting discretionary starts. Fedele de Campo was one beneficiary of this in December - Fedele had points <150 on the first FIS list for 2023/2024, but with high FIS penalties in the 2023 Australian winter his points jumped to just over 150 points on the list valid for the December World Cups. In this instance, the FIS race director approved an exemption for Fedele. The rationale behind selections for each World Cup are included on this selection information page.

The other big event starting this month is the 2024 Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, Korea, with the cross country events taking place between January 29 to February 1. AUSXC is set to be represented by the quartet of Samuel Johnson, Clancy Harvey, Satara Moon and Rosie Franzke, supported by coach Anna Trnka and wax tech Toni Escher. Two other members of the AUSXC Junior Team (Phoenix Sparke & Ava McCann) are also racing in Gangwon as part of a team of six Biathletes. The full Australian Team for Gangwon is linked below.

Straight after the YOG, the 2024 World Junior and U23 Championships kick off on February 5 at Planica in Slovenia. Eight Junior and U23 athletes have already been pre-selected for Planica, with the national selection committee still considering additional discretionary selections. When confirmed, the final team for Planica will be listed here. The team for Planica will be supported by AUSXC head coach Alexei Sotskov, manager Victoria Sotskov, assistant coach Adam Barnett, and wax techs Fabian Mauz and Toni Escher.

Last but not least, Australia has a large contingent heading to the Masters World Cup next month in Vuokatti, Finland. About 15 Aussies are expected to start, competing in distances from 5km to 30km. There are 13 age classes at the event,  ranging from 30-35 year-olds to the over 90's. Start and result listed will be available on the Masters World Cup website.

Best wishes to all for the ongoing winter or summer, wherever you may be.

Finn Marsland
Snow Australia Cross Country Director

Seve de Campo has become the third Australian to finish the famed Tour de Ski. Established less than 20 years ago, the Tour has quickly become the focal point of the FIS Cross Country World Cup season, with the endurance event providing a true test across all parts of the discipline.

Australia’s largest ever Winter Youth Olympic Games (WYOG) Team will compete in Gangwon, South Korea.

The 47-strong Australian team from across the country will compete across eight disciplines from 19 January to 1 February 2024.  

The Gangwon 2024 Games will see 1900 athletes from over 70 nations compete across 7 sports, 15 disciplines and 81 events. 

Twenty-four athletes from Freestyle Skiing, Snowboard, Cross Country, and Alpine Skiing will join the 23 athletes from Biathlon, Ice Hockey, Figure Skating and Short Track Speed Skating announced in November. 

Satara Moon, Rosie Franzke, Clancy Merrick Harvey and ETP athlete Samuel Johnson have been selected to represent Australia in Cross Country Skiing. 

Click 'read more' to see the full team.

Fifteen young Aussies took to the starting line at the 2024 Austrian Championship in Saalfelden on January 13/14. All under the age of 23, the Aussie contingent included athletes preparing for the World U23 Championships, the World Junior Championships, and the Youth Olympic Games, with some racing in Europe for the first time. Highlights for the weekend included top-5 Sprint qualifying results by U23 skiers Emily Champion and Bentley Walker-Broose, sprint final experience for a handful of athletes, and a senior podium performance by Emily Champion in the 10km Classic.

Full FIS results for the events are available here. All other results for the event, including for the non-FIS races, are available via these links: Freestyle Sprint / Classic Distance

Snow Australia is pleased to announce Cliff Mason, David Frydman and Allan Marsland as the recipients of the Service to Snowsport Award in the 2023 Snow Australia Community Sport Awards. This award recognises individuals in the Snowsport community who have made a positive difference in the opportunities and experiences available to others over a long period of time. 

Allan Marsland has been involved with cross country skiing at local, state, national and international levels since 1970, holding the position of Chair of the National Cross Country Committee from 1993 to 1996. Marsland was involved with Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club, helping to navigate the establishment of the only Southern Hemisphere event in the Worldloppet series. Marsland was also the Race Director of Kangaroo Hoppet from 1991 for over ten years, now holding the role of Chair of the committee for the past decade. Marsland credits his ongoing commitment to the sport to his family and the Birkebeiner Club. “I would like to thank my family for putting up with all my ski-related activities for the last 40 odd years,” he said. “I would also like to thank all the great people in the Birkebeiner club and the wider cross country community who I have worked with over the decades. “Special mention to three people: Paul L’Huillier and Brian Keeble who were instrumental in putting together the Kangaroo Hoppet, and Helen L’Huillier who was the key Hoppet person off-snow as Race Secretary for 30 years.”

Thank you Allan for all the hard work and support you have and countinue to give the XC Ski community!

Follow the link below to read about all recipients of this prestigious award.

We are excited to confirm that all events from the 2024 Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, Korea, will be streamed live via Channel 9 on their 9Now platform. Click here to watch the live events on 9NOW. For more YOG information click here