Esther Bottomley made her World Cup debut in the Classic Sprint in Asiago in Italy on December 16. After only being on snow in Europe for one week Bottomley wasn't quite in race form, however her result of 46th place only 26 seconds off the place was very promising and the experience should assist for the next Sprint World Cup in Nove Mesto in January.

Australia's highest ranked cross country skier Paul Murray unfortunately had to withdraw from the Asiago World Cup due to illness. Murray is now healthy again and will be competing in the Swedish Championships and Swedish Sprint Cup over the next few weeks.

Ben Sim's World Cup debut will be delayed until January 17-18 in the Czech Republic. The plan was for the 18-year-old NSWIS skier to start in the 10km freestyle World Cup in Ramsau on December 20, however his FIS points were just outside the qualification standard and he was not granted a wild card start by the Technical Delegate. However Sim's start has been confirmed for the 15km Classic and 1km Sprint World Cup competitions in Nove Mesto.

Sim was training in Russia with his coach Nick Almoukov for most of November and December. His performances in non-FIS Russian selection races in December show that he is on track for another season of good results - Sim finished 19th in the Ural Cup 10km classic on December 5th against a tough field of Russian, Kazakstan and Ukraine skiers, with a good percentage behind the 2003 World Junior Championship silver medalist over the same distance and style.

Australian Cross Country Team members have been competing in three different Continental Cup competitions this month.

Andrew Wynd scored his personal best FIS points at the NORAM Continental Cup in Kelowna in Canada. Wynd finished 28th in the 10km Freestyle on December 20. Sprint Team member Nick Grimmer also scored his best distance FIS points in the 10km Classic NORAM Continental Cup in Soldier Hollow in the USA on December 16. However Grimmer's better result was a 17th place in the 1km Classic Sprint on December 13, where he missed out on qualifying for the finals by just 1 place. ACT Team member Andrew Circosta also scored his best FIS points in the competitions in Soldier Hollow.

Esther Bottomley scored her best Continental Cup result in the OPA Continental Cup in Toblach in Italy on December 20. Bottomley finished 18th in the 1km Sprint Freestyle, only 11 seconds off the fastest qualifer and narrowly missed out on qualifying for her first Continental Cup sprint final. The next chance will come in the OPA Continental Cup in Bernau in Germany on January 3. Katherine Calder and Chris Darlington also raced in this competition, finishing 26th and 69th respectively.

Sprint Team member Tim Retchford made his Scandinavian Continental Cup debut in Ostersund on December 14, however was lacking race form and time on snow and put in a performance far from his best.

Australia's number 1 ranked distance skiers Ben Derrick and Clare-Louise Brumley are still training in Australia, and will make their season debuts in OPA Continental Cup competition in January.