The coming international season will be a very busy one for the Australian Cross Country Ski Team. While there are no major championships at senior level, there will be about 16 members of the national senior and junior teams competing in over 30 separate FIS (International Ski Federation) international events in 8 countries. In a not-quite-so-quick summary, we will have skiers competing in 8-10 World Cup events; the World Junior Championships in Norway; the Intercontinental U23 Championships in the USA; four OPA Continental Cup events in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland; One Scandinavian Cup event; five NORAM Continental Cup events in Canada and The USA; five Swedish Cup events; the Swiss Championships; the USA Championships; the German Championships; FIS International events in Norway, Switzerland, and Austria; and three Worldloppet events. Not to mention club and other non-FIS races mixed in all over the place.

With limited resources at our disposal, Ski & Snowboard Australia Cross Country wont be able provide support to team members at all these events. Our main focus will be on ensuring that the skiers on World Cup and at the World Junior Championships have the best opportunity to put good results on the board. However, wherever possible coaching support will be provided at other events in Europe.

Australia now has four skiers qualified for World Cup: Paul Murray, Ben Sim, Esther Bottomley, and Ben Derrick. NSWIS cross country coach Nick Almoukov will join the coaching crew for some of these World Cup events, and we will also have some technical support on World Cup from Toko, who have taken over from Yoko as our main uniform/equipment sponsor. Our initial goals for these World Cups are to achieve results in the top 80% of the field, which will be the first step towards qualifying for the 2006 Winter Olympics. For Paul Murray, who made it under this standard last season, the goal is higher; top 60% of the field.

The 2004 World Junior Championships take place in Stryn, Norway, at the start of February. Ben Sim and Sally Cunningam have already achieved selection to these championships, and they may well be joined by younger NSW skiers Amy and Ewan Watson. Nick Almoukov will head up the coaching team for this event, supported by Allison McArdle. Dare we say it, with Ben's impressive results in 2003 a top 10 result is not out of the question.
There is no doubt that these are exciting times for Australian cross country skiing.

Finn Marsland
National Team Coach
October 2003

www.hoppet.com.au/xc/xcfiles/reports/race_schedule0304.htm