December 30, 2005

Today Esther Bottomley ticked off her second Olympic C qualifiying performance in the Sprint World Cup in Nove Mesto, finishing 39th place out of 54 starters. This makes it three Australians who have met the qualification standard for Torino, with three other athletes still with a chance over the next three weeks. Esther was very nervous leading into this final qualifying event for sprint, which is unusual for her but perhaps not surprising as this was make or break for the Olympic qualification. It was a tough course, 1.2km with a steep last hill before a long finish straight into a head-wind. Esther's 39th place left her about a second and a half outside making the sprint finals (top 30), which will be the goal for Torino.

Paul Murray finished 62 out of 73 starters in the men's sprint, still a way off good form. His goal for Torino is also to make the sprint final, so he has a lot of work to do between now and February. He heads back to Sweden on January 1 for three weeks of solid training "at home" in Borlange, before returning to middle Europe at the end of January for two weeks at altitude leading into the olympics.

Ben Derrick races tomorrow in the 15km Freestyle event. This race doesn't count towards selection for Torino, however will be a good indication of Ben's form leading into the event that does, the 30km Freestyle in Val di Fiemme in two weeks time. Probably no reports until at least January 1, straight after the race tomorrow the team is packing into the car and driving to Innsbruck.


Courtesy OWI/Sportcom