Welcome to the 47th Edition of E-News

It is now less than a month until the opening ceremony of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, and less than 2 weeks until the end of the qualifying period for our winter sport athletes.

SSA looks set to nominate its biggest ever team to the AOC, and with a hectic 10 days of competition remaining until the close of nominations the race is hotting up for the final remaining places on the Australian Team.

We wish all our athletes the very best of luck and will track their progress which will be updated on the SSA website.

This edition of the SSA e-news not only looks at our National Team athletes in their Olympic qualifying pursuits, but also reports on other SSA program activities and news from our athletes competing internationally. Be sure to check out the sport shorts at the bottom of the page for links to more articles.

Olympic Qualification Update

Selection for Torino will be made on an event by event basis. There are three performance standards under the AOC Selection Criteria, A, B and C. These correspond to achieving results respectively within the top 20%, 60% and 80% of the starting field in World Cup events.

For example, if there are 80 starters in an event, if an athlete finishes in place 48 or better then they are within 60%. For criteria B (60%) and C (80%), the athlete must achieve the standard in 50% of the races prior to the selection deadline on January 24. This is rounded up, so if three events are held then the athlete needs two results under the standard. Criteria C (80%) only applies if no athletes have qualified under A or B, and a maximum of one athlete per event may be selected

As of today, the following 20 athletes have satisfied the AOC selection criteria, and are now eligible for nomination by Ski & Snowboard Australia to the AOC. This is done in accordance with the published Nomination Criteria.

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ALPINE

Brauer claims first Europa Cup Victory

Thursday, January 12, 2006

In a promising result just one month out from the Winter Olympics, Jono Brauer has won the first European Cup event of his career.

Brauer took the gold in Hinterstoder, Austria, also recording his best ever FIS points score of 6.30 points.

The 24-year-old slalom specialist recorded a time of one minute 3.09 seconds for the two-run event, seven hundredths of a second ahead of Mattias Hargin of Sweden. Bernard Vadjic of Slovenia took the bronze.

Brauer will hopefully now go into Sunday's slalom World Cup in Wengen, Switzerland, with a major confidence boost.

He needs one more top 60 per cent result in World Cup slalom to meet the AOC's Torino qualification criteria.

Meanwhile, Craig Branch has finished in 44th place in the first training run for the downhill in Wengen, in a field of 95 skiers.


SSA High Performance Alpine Development Team Update

The SSA High Performance Alpine Development Team, consisting of Demian Franzen, Bryce Stevens, Will Clifford, Thomas Mathias, Hugh Stevens and Christian Geiger, has been busy training and competing in Europe under coach Mike Gould.

Team members competed in their first two FIS races of the season in Slovenia in late December. Tom Mathias did well, finishing both races in much better position than his start number, Christian Geiger had a solid first event but came out in the second, and unfortunately Will Clifford was affected by illness and could not compete in either race...

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Katya Crema wins back to back Citizen Races

Competing in Citizen races in Montgenevre, France, Mt Buller athlete Katya Cremahas won back to back slalom races.
Crema comfortably won both events, setting the fastest time in each run.
Australian team-mate Tomi Crewes finished in fourth place in the second event.


Australian Alpine Children’s Team

The National Alpine Committee Selectors is pleased to announce the Australian Alpine Children’s Team for 2006.

As in past years, the only Team event team members will participate in is the FIS Children’s event at Pinzolo, Italy, the Trofeo Topolino (Mickey Mouse Trophy) from 16 to 18 February 2006.

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CROSS COUNTRY

St Ulrich Continental Cup, Austria, January 7-8

Ben Derrick had two good hard races this weekend on Continental Cup in Austria, topping off his final preparation for the World Cup in Italy next weekend. BD finished 38th and 37th respectively in the 10km Classic and 15km Freestyle events, with FIS points of around 102 and 98. The places were nothing so special to write home about - however BD's performances were solid and show he is close to his best middle-distance (read 10-15km) skiing form in Europe for a couple of years.

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FREESTYLE

NSWIS/SSA Development Team ready for competition

NSWIS/SSA coach Peter 'Toppa' Topalovic reports that, despite marginal snow conditions at the beginning of the five week camp, all four athletes - Ramone Cooper, Emma Chapman-Davies, and Rob and Tom Lovick - have had a great camp and shown significant skill improvement.

"I could not be happier as we complete the final pre-season training phase," Toppa said.

"We've had a 180 metre long course with separate mogul specific jumps for optimal training, and we have been following to the minute the dryland strength and conditioning programs provided by the Alex Moore from the Sydney Academy of Sport."

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SNOWBOARD

Junior Worlds Team Announced

Ski & Snowboard Australia would like to congratulate all athletes that have been selected to compete at the 2006 Junior World Championships in Vivaldi Park, Korea, February, 2006.

The SSA Snowboard Committee has selected athletes for the team based on results achieved during the 2005 domestic season and the current northern winter season.

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SSA Snowboard Halfpipe Development Team News

NSWIS/SSA Halfpipe Snowboard Development Team

The NSWIS/SSA Halfpipe Snowboard Development Team has taken part in their first event of the 2005-2006 international season, competing in the USSA Halfpipe Grand Prix event in Mt Bachelor, Oregon.

Up against American superstars such as Shaun White, Ross Powers and Danny Kass, the male members of the team did well, with Nathan Johnston finishing in 29th place, Ben Johnson 30th, Matt Hunter 44th and Jarryd Williams 51st.

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Sports Shorts

Alpine
Slalom duo move closer to Torino Selection
Deane’s Olympic Campaign is Over

Cross Country
Nove Mesto World Cup, Czech Republic

Freestyle
First Top Five for Aerial Skiier
Berchtold Qualifies for Games Team and Top Ten for Begg-Smith!

Snowboard
Lost Baggage Grounds Qualification Chance
Shaw Rides to Another PB
Another Top Ten to Hayler