Dear XC Skiers,

Recent weeks have been full-on with competitions at all levels across the resorts, from club and interschools races and NSW XC week through to the two weekends of the 2022 Australian Open Championships. Despite nervous days around the torrential rain of early August, training and racing conditions have generally been amazing.

There was plenty of action in the Australian Open events at Perisher and Falls Creek, with a handful of international guests competing and six different athletes winning gold in the eight events. Currently Kat Paul and Seve de Campo lead the FIS ANC Continental Cup, which concludes next weekend with the 42km event of the Kangaroo Hoppet at Falls Creek. Unfortunately, dual Olympian Aimee Watson broke her leg in an unlucky accident (not while skiing) and will miss the rest of the Australia season. I wish Aimee all the best with her recovery and hope to see her back racing with the team next summer.

Moving on to the Hoppet this coming Saturday, there’s a lot of excitement around the 30th edition of the race finally being able to be held after two years of virtual events. Athletes from 22 nations are entered, including Beijing 2022 triple medallist Jessie Diggins and her USA team-mate and World Cup medallist Julia Kern. Four of Australia’s six Beijing winter Olympians will also be vying for the podium places alongside other national team athletes. As a very busy weekend is expected, Hoppet organisers are encouraging all participants to car pool and to pre-purchase day entry permits if they need them.

The last championship event of the season is the AUS Juniors at Falls Creek on September 3-4. This is open to all athletes under the age of 20, with age categories down to U12. Event registration is via Alpine Timing, which also provides live timing during the races.

Finally, Snow Australia welcomes the calls from the Falls Creek Resort Management Board and the Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club for long-term strategies for cross country skiing facility and trail development. We look forward to working with Falls Creek, the incoming Alpine Resorts Victoria board, and all community stakeholders in developing a blueprint for the future of our fantastic sport.

I look forward to seeing many of you on the trails at Falls Creek this weekend!

Finn Marsland
Cross Country Skiing Program Director

After two years of "Virtual Hoppets" the Kangaroo Hoppet is all set for its 30th live edition at Falls Creek on Saturday August 27. Amongst a number of elite international athletes lining up to give Australia's top cross country skiers a run for their money are US Team members Jessie Diggins and Julia Kern, who are currently at Falls Creek for a three week training camp.

The second round of the 2022 Australian Open Championship took place at Perisher on August 20-21. A short blizzard of snow on Friday morning turned into excellent racing conditions on the weekend, and there was a lot of close racing action. The event was organised by NSWACT XC on behalf of Snow Australia.

The time trial of the Freestyle Sprint on Saturday saw Katerina Paul and Lars Young Vik post the fastest times, however both skiers played a more tactical game to make their way through the finals.

Perisher Valley resident James Finnie never imagined that at 71 he would be skiing alongside Australia’s Olympians in the national open cross country ski championships, but that’s exactly what he found himself doing on the Perisher XC Centre trails at the weekend.

As the most senior competitor, Finnie, known affectionately in the cross-country community as Jim, was first to set off on the 10km individual time trial that constituted the Australian Classical Distance Championships on Sunday.

Behind him on the start line were 2022 Winter Olympic team members Seve de Campo, Lars Young Vik and National and State team members including Cooma local Bentley Walker-Broose, along with members of the elite Sun Valley Gold team from Idaho, USA, a Swiss, a Latvian and an Ecuadorian.

Katerina Paul is an athlete like no other. She competes in cross country skiing where hours are spent pushing physical abilities to the limit in temperatures most people would relate frostbite and hypothermia to.

The 26-year-old from Taggerty, Victoria currently competes predominantly in ski marathons in Europe but is also handy in shorter events, particularly the classic sprint (which she recently won at the 2022 Australian Championship). 

The first races of the 2022 Australian Open Championship for Cross Country Skiing took place at Falls Creek on the weekend of July 30/31. Four different skiers won each of the four events held. Congratulations to the medal winners and to all athletes taking part in the competitions. The event was organised by Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club on behalf of Snow Australia.