Two cross country skiers have completed the qualifying requirements for a place on the Australian team for Torino 2006, and another shown she is on track to join them after producing a record World Cup result.

Melbourne 28-year-old Clare-Louise Brumley kicked off the campaign for Olympic team places at the World Cup in the British Columbian venue of Sovereign Lake, finishing in 40th place in the 15km pursuit event.

The result put her in the top 80 per cent of the field in one of just two pursuit events prior to the Australian Olympic Committee qualification deadline, meeting the AOC selection criteria.

Only one woman has ever represented Australia in cross country skiing at a winter Olympics, Colleen Bolton at the 1980 Games in Lake Placid, USA.

In the men's 30km Pursuit Ben Derrick and Ben Sim finished 58th and 59th out of 66 starters, missing the top 80 per cent mark. They will have another pursuit opportunity in Oberstdorf, Germany, on January 21.

In the following day's sprint events, Paul Murray skied to the second top 80 per cent result he needed to qualify for a Torino team place, having achieved the first in Dusseldorf, Germany, at the end of October.

Murray finished in 48th place in a field of 62 skiers, with team-mates Ben Sim and Ben Derrick again at the rear of the field in 60th and 62nd place respectively.

But the performance of the weekend, even though it hasn't yet delivered an Olympic berth, came from Esther Bottomley who sprinted to an Australian best 35th place, missing a spot in the finals by 0.8 of a second, but securing a top 80 per cent of field finish.

The 22-year-old Mt Beauty skier needs one more top 80 per cent result in Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic at the end of the month to be eligible for selection for the Australian Winter Olympic Team.

Courtesty of OWI/Sportcom and The XC Files