Welcome to the 44th Edition of the Ski & Snowboard Australia E-News.

The majority of our athletes have already departed for the Northern Winter season, and many more will be leaving in the coming weeks. For our National Team athletes, the next 55 days will be the culmination of four years of hard work as they seek to qualify for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy. The closing date for nominations to the Olympic Team is 24^th January 2006. We wish all athletes the very best of luck in their training and competition endeavours. You can monitor their progress by visiting the website regularly.

Please note that Ski and Snowboard Australia office will be closed from Friday 23rd December to Tuesday 3rd January, 2006.

Please make sure that all your International Competition Licence applications, race entry requests and other registrations are submitted by no later than Friday 16th December to allow time for the applications to be processed before the office closes.

 

ALPINE

Alpine skiers make solid start to qualification
Australia's alpine skiers have begun the qualification process for Torino, competing in downhill and super G events in Lake Louise at the weekend.

AJ Bear and Craig Branch, both coming back to the circuit from injury, were joined by New South Wales team-mate Luke Deane for the season opener in Canada.

After a tentative three days of training when he was well back in the field, Bear skied to a solid 48th place in the downhill, registering a top 80 per cent of field result, a first step toward Torino. Craig Branch, two spots back in 50th place also posted a top 80 per cent.

With Luke Deane guaranteed a start in super G by virtue of his victory in the Continental Cup during the Australian winter, the second place in that field went to Bear by virtue of finishing ahead of Branch in the downhill.

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HPAD National Alpine Team
The HPAD National Alpine team commenced skiing on the Stubai glacier on the 16th of November. The team is almost all together with Bryce Stevens, Tom Mathias, Hugh Stevens, Will Clifford and Christian Geiger training at Schlick 2000 ski area since Monday. Good early season snow fall and cold temperatures have led to good training conditions at Schlick 2000.

The team has just commenced SL training on a designated race piste made of artificial snow. Our first day saw the team training alongside the German Europa Cup team. Schlick 2000 is a 25minute drive from Innsbruck. All the athletes are in good health and training hard in preparation for the busy race season which kicks off in mid December.

Demian Franzen will join the team later in December as he is on the skis for the first time since a knee injury in April last year.

On Friday the team relocates to its base in Saalfelden in Salzburgerland. At this stage all resorts plan to fully open on Friday which shall provide us with many training possibilities.

 

CROSS COUNTRY

Nor-Am Podium
NOR-AM Continental Cup, Sovereign Lake Canada

On November 27 Esther Bottomley made the podium in the NORAM Continental Cup Sprint in Sovereign Lake in Canada. The places in the qualifying and A-final results were the same, with Esther finishing 3rd behind the World Championship sprint bronze medalist, Sarah Renner, and her Canadian team-mate Chandra Crawford. All the events in Sovereign Lakes this weekend were a practice run for the World Cup events in two weeks time - same events, same styles, though the Pursuit was half the distance.

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FREESTYLE

Mogul skiing
The OWI mogul program has delayed its departure from Australia for the Northern Hemisphere. Low snow levels during November in central Europe forced the team to change their original plans to train in Ruka, Finland, in mid-November, to a revised schedule of traveling directly to Tignes, France, at the end of the month. In the meantime, Head Coach Steve Desovich attended a short jumps warm-up camp in Whistler with team members Dale and Jason Begg-Smith.

Steve commented at the end of the Whistler camp that: "the lack of snow has made us change plans three times already. Good early snow in BC was a surprise, and doing a short camp in Whistler was a bonus. I am not too concerned for the athletes still in Australia. We had a very strong October camp in Zermatt, and extra time at home in the gym and in the sun will be very positive."

Courtesy of OWI/Sportcom

SNOWBOARD

Snowboard Half Pipe
The OWI squad was forced to travel to Mt Hood in Oregon in search of Half Pipe training. The squad delayed their departure from Australia, due to poor conditions at the designated training venue in Mammoth Mountain in California.

Head Coach Ben Wordsworth reports: "the pipe here at Mt Hood is short, only three hits, but we are happy to be here. We need pipe training before the double World Cup event in Whistler in early December."

Courtesy of OWI/Sportcom



Boardercross and PGS
The Boardercross athletes are focusing their attention on the Whistler World Cup beginning next week. This event is crucial to the athletes qualification to the Olympic Games as it is will consist of two of the five races that remain before the qualification deadline.

Jo Shaw recently competed in two PGS Nor-Am events at Copper Mountain where she finished 15th on both days. She will be competing in the next PGS World Cup at Le Relais, Canada, on December 16.

Junior World Championships
Ski & Snowboard Australia are now accepting applications from athletes who wish to compete at the 2006 FIS Snowboard Junior World Championships in Korea from the 2 – 6 of February.

The program includes Halfpipe, Boardercross, PGS and Big Air and we are accepting applications for all events. Applications are open to any snowboarder born in the years from 1986-1990 inclusively. For further information regarding the event and to download the application form please follow the link below.

JWC Application Form

FIS Newsflash

	Olympic Season for the Nordic disciplines successfully opened
	FIS World Cup Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined competitions rescheduled for Lillehammer
	Ladies take over from where men left off in Lake Louise (CAN)
	Final Coordination Meetings get underway in Turin (ITA)
	Häkkinen lands prestigious award

Please click here to find the fifty-first edition of the FIS Newsflash
 

Sports Shorts

Alpine
Bear and Branch to Return from Injury
Australian Men’s Alpine Team

Cross Country
Room for Improvement
Cross Country Preparations

Freestyle
Aerial Skiing: Rehab and Training Going Well
Jenny Owens Finishes 3rd in Opening Event

Snowboard
Snowboard Junior World Championships
Bronze and Olympic Qualification