August 21, 2009 – Here’s the latest news and information from races and training during the Australian Winter from the Australian XC Ski Team. There’s been lots of great action on great down under and more events coming including the New Zealand Winter Games, FIS Australia New Zealand Cup and Continental Cup and more…

Recent Events

Australian 10/15km Classic, Perisher Valley, August 16
Paul Murray bounced back from a disappointing sprint the weekend before to claim his third Australian title in a distance event. The overall 15km Classic was won in convincing style by Thomas Diezig of Switzerland ahead of Tomio Kanamaru of Japan, with Murray in third place overall. Chris Darlington was second Australian, with Australia’s best ranked distance skier Ben Sim having a off-day back in third place. Former Australian skier now skiing for New Zealand KT Calder won the 10km Classic, with Aimee Watson taking the Australian title ahead of Clare-Louise Brumley. The Australian Open Junior Champions were Callum Watson and d’Arcy Baxter. Race conditions weren’t pleasant to say the least – rain and strong wind assailed the competitors throughout the morning of racing.

Australian 5/10km Freestyle, Perisher Valley, August 15
Ben Sim added another Australian title to his collection in the 10km Freestyle but couldn’t quite overcome Diezig of Switzerland for the overall win. Sim held a slender lead on split times up the last hill but went down to Diezig by just 3 seconds at the finish.Third overall was Kanamaru of Japan. Alex Almoukov was the first junior and second Australian in 6th place overall, with Mark Raymond rounding out the Australian poidium. KT Calder won the 5km Freestyle ahead of her from New Zealand team-mate Andrea Fancy, with the first Australian Esther Bottomley taking third place overall. Second placed Australian was Clare-Louise Brumley ahead of Aimee Watson. The first junior woman was U16 NSW talent Lucy Glanville. For more info click here.

Australian 15/30km Freestyle, Falls Creek, August 9
The men’s 30km Freestyle on Sunday was one of the most exciting championship races witnessed in Australian racing history. Ben Sim and Diezig of Switzerland skied away from the main pack already on the first 7.5km loop, then took turns to attack each other throughout the rest of the race. With neither skier able to make a break it all came down to a finish sprint, and Diezig claimed victory by half a ski length. Third overall was Leccardi from Switzerland, with the first junior Callum Watson taking 5th place just behind Kanamaru of Japan. KT Calder won the women’s 15km Freestyle just over two minutes ahead of Esther Bottomley. Bottomley was in fourth place near the top of the course on the first lap, then pushed over the top and managed to gap Andrea Fancy from New Zealand, Aimee Watson and Clare-Louise Brumley. Fancy and Watson had a tussle for the rest of the race before Fancy made a break and took third place just four seconds ahead. Brumley was third Australian in fifth, with NSW junior Lucy Glanville taking sixth place.

Australian Sprint Championship, Falls Creek, August 8
Esther Bottomley claimed her 8th Australian Sprint title in the Australian Sprint Championship at Falls Creek, winning the A-final ahead KT Calder from New Zealand. Calder posted the fastest qualifying time but was unable to match Bottomley’s speed in the head to head final. NSW Junior d’Arcy Baxter was third overall and the Australian Junior Champion, with Aimee Watson 4th in the A-final and third Australian. In the men’s A-final it was a Swiss bonanza, with Valerio Leccardi winning ahead of Thomas Diezig and Gaudenz Flury. Mark van der Ploeg was the only Australian to make it into the A-final and took the Australian Sprint title by default. Second Australian was Ben Sim, who came from behind to outlunge Andrew Mock in the B-final. First junior man was Callum Watson. Six-time Australian sprint champion Paul Murray broke a pole in the qualifying round then was knocked out in the quarter-finals in a tough heat against Sim and van der Ploeg.

For full results and more details for all events on the Australian Cross Country Skiing Website click here.

Coming Events

New Zealand Winter Games, Snow Farm, August 23-25
On Sunday August 23 the inaugural New Zealand Winter Games cross country events kick off at the Snow Farm on New ‘Zealand’s south island. The Winter Games based out of Queenstown features over 800 athletes in events across seven Winter Olympic disciplines and more IPC disciplines. The cross country field is just about the strongest even seen in the southern hemisphere, with the entire Canadian World Cup team on site as well as teams from Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA, not to mention also from Peru, Venezuela and Portugal. Going into the first classic distance events on Sunday Ben Sim is ranked 17th amongst the men and Aimee Watson 10th amongst the women, so making the podium or even into the top five would be a major achievement. The other Australian cross country athletes competing are Leon Spiller, Callum Watson, Ewan Watson, James Millar and Dominic Moneypenny – the latter two competing in the IPC events.

Reports and results from the weekend will be posted on the Australian Cross Country Skiing website but may appear first on the Winter Games site.

FIS Australia New Zealand Cup

FIS Australia – New Zealand Continental Cup

With five races completed out of the nine in the FIS ANC series it is going to be a hard challenge to bring either of the cups back to Australia. Thomas Diezig from Switzerland and KT Calder from New Zealand are now over 100 points clear on top of the respective standings. Sim’s 7th place in the 15km Classic has made it hard for him to contest the series with his Swiss opposition, however there are still four races left and the New Zealand events will have completely different starting fields. With Bottomley not travelling over to New Zealand Calder probably just needs to stay healthy to secure the series win, as Aimee Watson would need to catch up 180 points to reel her back in.

For full standings and schedule of the ANC on the Australian Cross Country Skiing Website click here.

Special Thanks… David de Gama from Digital Sport Images (click here) for awesome action images from the Australian Sprint and 15/30km Championship.