Australian Team Reports 2004/2005 -
November/December Updates
December 30 - Calder Breaks
Through!
KT Calder has stepped her skiing up to a new level, claiming two
podium finishes on Swiss Cup and scoring the best ever distance FIS
points for an Australian woman. KT finished third in both the 5km
classic and the 10km freestyle mass start events in the Swiss Cup
events in Campra on December 28 and 29. Her FIS points of 77 and 65
far eclipsed her previous best points of 99 from Swiss Cup last year,
and could even have been better in the freestyle race as the second
highest ranked skier finished just outside the penalty calculation.
The winner on both days was Sereina Mischol ahead of Doris Trachsel.
In the individual start classic race KT was in 4th with 500m to go
but 2nd placed Natascha Leonardi fell on the last downhill and
dropped out of the top 3. In the mass start KT lead early on, then
lost contact with the leading three after taking a drink at the end
of the first 5km lap. Catching back on at about 6km, KT moved up to
3rd on the last big hill and attacking 2nd place prompted Trachsel to
respond and try to make a move on Mischol. The two Swiss made a small
break over the top of the hill, and then in the finish straight KT
held off Sereiner Boner off for third place only 10 seconds behind
Mischol. Pretty damn impressive performances!
In the men's 10km classic Chris Darlington and Mark Raymond
finished 54th and 59th (out of 91 starters), with FIS points of 146
and 157. The 5km course was very hard with 175m of climbing on each
lap, and more than a foot of new snow in the days leading into the
events made for a soft track. Raymesy was a bit light on for grip -
soft skis were needed and he didn't have them. KT and Darlo both had
good skis. In the 15km freestyle the guys had it tough starting up
the back of the field, and though they moved up on the first lap the
field spread right out on the narrowish track and was not so good for
FIS points (FIS points are usually never good in mass start races
unless you are in the leading pack). Raymesy overtook Darlo towards
the end of the first lap and made it about 5-6 skiers ahead, then
Darlo pulled back some time and places towards the end. They finished
in 39th and 40th place, 35 seconds apart, about 14-15% behind the
winner Patrick Maechler.
Garmisch International Sprint
On December 27 Tim Retchford took a solo trip to Germany for a
city-sprint in down-town Garmisch. An exclusive field, only 12
starters including some of the best German and Austrian sprinters and
also Johann Muhlegg in his first ever competition since his 2 year
ban for doping at the 2002 Winter Olympics. A bit nervous in front of
packed streets of cheering people Tim came out cranking, qualifying
8th in the seeding time trial. Then he won his quarter-final, coming
from behind to outlunge Austrian Ulrich Eger. In the semi-final the
wheels fell off as the distance was increased to three laps, and
suffering a asthma attack Tim was knocked out by Tobias Angerer of
Germany and Johannes Eder of Austria. Angerer went on to win the
final. The crowd was very appreciative of Tim's efforts, and as well
as getting interviewed on TV and radio (in German) he also received
two separate invitations of beds for the night.
A Baguette Too Many
Long promised, the report from Montegeneve Continental Cup has come
through, disguised under the latest update of the
Unauthorised Biography of Don
Johnson. Read on if you dare.
Now there is a bit of a break between races for the team in middle
Europe, the next scheduled competition will be the Continential Cup
in Tarvisio in Italy on January 8-9. Except for the go-cart races on
the ice in Livigno on New Years Eve.
December 22 - Bottomley On
The Podium
On December 21 Esther Bottomley put in one of her best finals
performances in Europe, making the podium in the Austrian Sprint
Championships in Saalfelden. Esther finished third behind Barbara
Feichtner, Austria's only female World Cup skier, and Katerina
Smutna, who skied for Czech at the last World Championships. Esther
and KT Calder qualified 3rd and 5th in the 1km time trial on cold dry
snow, and both made it through to the semi-finals without difficulty.
KT was knocked out in her semi-final, then went on to take 3rd place
in the B-Final. In the A-Final Esther came up against Feichtner,
Smutna, and Michaela Hierschlager of Austria. Esther slotted in
behind Feichtner after the first 200m, and held off Smutna until the
start of the second lap. A gap almost appeared back to Esther but she
fought back and the three skiers rounded the final corner on each
other's heels. Esther pegged back ground in the finish straight but
not quite enough and she had to be satisified with the bronze medal
and her highest place in a FIS race in Europe.
For the guys it wasn't such a great day. To start off, the drive
from Livigno to Saalfelden took 5 hours because of slippery
conditions and general chaos on the roads. Arriving 45min before the
start left barely enough room to shake out the stiff legs from car
trip. Chris Darlington was the fastest in 32nd place, 14 seconds
behind Harald Wurm of Austria, with Duane Butcher and Tim Retchford
placing 36th and 37th another second or so back. Then the fun really
began. Piling back into the car the trio headed to Peter Moysey's
house in Worgl and picked up Mark Raymond, freshly arriven from
Biathlon World Cup in Scandinavia. Raymesy took over as navigator and
they proceded to drive over half of northern Italy before finding a
pass open into Livigno 8 1/2 hrs later. The second car departing 3hrs
later after the finals made with hindsight a much wiser decision to
stay the night at Casa Moysey and do the Worgl-Livigno trip in 3 hrs
the next morning.
Smutna, Feichtner, and Esther Bottomley
Austrian Sprint Championships
Saalfelden, December 2004
Esther Bottomley on her way to the finals
Austrian Sprint Championship
Saalfelden, December 2004
December 19 - Murray Cranking
In Sweden
Paul Murray has scored his best ever results on Sweden Cup
finishing 5th in the freestyle sprint and 17th in the 10km freestle
events in Boden in Sweden this weekend. He scored about 75 FIS points
in the sprint, and a personal best 66.5 FIS points in the distance
event - even more remarkable considering the FIS calculation factors
have gone up this year. Paul qualified only 10th in the sprint time
trial, 3.64 seconds behind Anders Hogberg, but knocked out the second
fastest qualifier Andreas Domeij in his quarter final to make it to
Swedish Cup semi-finals for only the second time. He missed out on
the A-final, which was won by Hogberg, but pulled out his best ever
finals performance to win the B-final ahead of recent Swedish World
Cup skiers Petter Myhlback and Fredrik Bystroem. Hogberg won again
the next day (today) in the 10km freestyle, with Paul 50 seconds
behind and only 9 seconds outside the top 10. This step up in a
distance event is a good sign, as it shows that Paul's fitness is
also improving to the level that he really needs to be in order to be
competitive in sprint events.
Paul Murray on the start-line in World Cup
Bern, Switzerland, December 2004
Hopefully coming in the next few days - reports from the guys at
the Continental Cup in Montegeneve in France plus road trip
adventures. Next race in Europe, the Austrian Sprint Championships in
Saalfelden on December 21st.
December 18 - New Snow in
Ramsau
Mass start freestyle World Cup races were held today in Ramsau in
Austria, 15km for women and 30km for men. In slow conditions with
falling snow KT Calder finished 51st out of 57 starters. In these
conditions the right skis and structure were needed but unfortunately
KT didn't have them. She was competitive on the uphills against
skiers around her but lost time on the downhills. Kristina Smigun
from Estonia went off the front of the field already on the first
2.5km loop, stretching out the field behind and skied a solo race to
win ahead of Kristin Steira of Norway. KT skied the last half of the
race alone after skiers around her pulled out.
While KT was very disappointed with the result, her first distance
event at World Cup level, much better results may not be too far
away. Physically she is in reasonable condition. The overriding
effect on her performance in Ramsau was definitely her skis. One of
the hardest things for Australian skiers (alongside raising the money
to come to Europe) has been to get good skis - and while many of the
guys have been able to take advantage of hand-ons from skiers such as
Anthony Evans and the Gray brothers, very few Australian women have
been around on the international scene long enough to accumulate fast
skis to pass onto the next group coming through. KT has just picked
up some new Fischer skis from the World Cup reps - hopefully some of
these will be fast and give her more options for different snow
conditions.
December 14 - Asiago
Sprint
Paul Murray has bounced back from his illness last week to post
one of his best World Cup results, finishing 48th out of 79 starters
in the classic Sprint World Cup in Asiago in Italy today. Paul was
2.73 seconds outside qualifying for the finals and 9.23 seconds
behind the fastest qualifier Trond Iverson of Norway on the 1.2km
time trial. The course of trucked in snow on a golf course had two
massive diagonal hills at either end with a bit of double poling
through the stadium area.
Asiago was not so kind to the two Australian girls, KT Calder and
Esther Bottomley. They finished 49th and 53rd respectively out of the
field of 54 starters, well off the pace of the fastest qualifier
Virpi Kuitunen of Finland. KT was particularly disappointed as the
course seemed similar to some other classic sprints where she skied
well last season, but it was not to be today. For Esther the hills
were just a bit too steep and long for her current level of fitness
and diagonal technique. There didn't seem to be any point in starting
the sprint relay tomorrow to do the same course three times each.
Paul heads back to Sweden tomorrow with more Sweden Cup races
coming up this weekend, while Esther and KT head to Ramsau where KT
will compete in the 15km freestyle World Cup on Saturday.
December 13 - A Continental
Breakfast
Just a short report from Continental Cup in Davos as the team
prepares for the World Cup in Asiago. KT Calder, Chris Darlington,
Tim Retchford and Duane Butcher competed in the individual classic
race on Saturday December 11. KT had the best result, finishing
39th/85 in the women's 5km classic 1:41 behind the winner Alena Sidko
of Russia. Darlo was the quickest of the guys in the 10km classic in
123rd place, 4:35 behind the winner Benoit Chauvet of France - a bit
further back than he would have like but not too bad for a first race
after 1 week on snow in Europe. Of the "sprinters", Tim was 133rd and
Duane 141st out of 148 starters. Tim skied a good first lap only 15
seconds slower than Darlo, but then blew up at about the 7km mark and
dropped a few spots. Duane was a bit light on for grip but had rocket
skis (strange that), and stuck it out in his first FIS distance race
in about a year and a half.
Darlo and Duane backed it up again the next day for the 15km
freestyle mass start. Unfortunately coach Finn Marsland forgot to
re-confirm the entry 2hrs prior to the captains meeting when for
probably the first time ever outside of World Cup the jury decided to
enforce this rule and took the Australians (and also two other
countries) off the start list. (However for some bizarre reason Tim
was put on the list and he wasn't even entered at all!). This meant
that Darlo and Duane started last on the grid and had to wait at the
bottom of several bottle-necks in the first few kms. Sorry guys. When
the packs formed and broke clear after the first lap they were left
in no-mans land and skied most of the race either alone or in small
groups of twos and threes. The final results - not so good but it was
good training. Exact places and times can probably be found on the
FIS site .
Duane, Tim and Darlo will stay in Davos training until Wednesday
then head to France for the next Continental Cup in Montegeneve
(right on the French-Italian border), which has a freestyle sprint on
Friday and a 10km freestyle individual start on Saturday.
December 9 - A Bit Of Finals
Action
Esther Bottomley has led the charge for the Australians again,
finishing 7th in the Swiss City-Sprint event in St Gallen last night
December 8. Esther just squeezed into the semi-finals ahead of
Plotskaya from Russia, but came up against a tough field of Klaus and
Reschwamm from Germany and Bachmann from Switzerland. She was still
in contact coming into the final corner but had too much ground to
make up from 4th place and was relegated to the B-Final. Klaus and
Bachmann went on to take 1st and 2nd place in the A-finals. In the
B-Final Esther came storming out to take the lead from the worst
lane, and lead for the entire first lap before fading to third and
holding on ahead of Badilatti from Switzerland in the finish
straight.
Duane Butcher and Tim Retchford skied better than in Luzern but
were still off the pace in the men's sprint, 12.8s and 15.4 seconds
behind Eigenmann of Switzerland. It is a bit frustrating as both are
performing well in training however can't seem to get the results on
the board in competition. Maybe things will change with the next two
sprint events being on traditional courses rather than the dead-flat
city-sprint format The men's final was won by Dirk Klessen of
Germany. Duane's claim to fame for the evening was trading a couple
of Falls Creek postcards for about 5kg of chocolate from a
promotional "angel".
Unfortunately Paul Murray came down with a sore throat the night
before and stayed in bed in Davos all day. Other team members KT
Calder and Chris Darlington stayed back in Davos to train (and go
water-sliding) in preparation for the Continental Cup on the weekend.
A note for a skier to watch out for in the future: 18-year-old
Natalia Matveeva from Russia smoked the women's field in the
qualifying round by over 2 seconds (destroying the FIS points in the
process, as she has none), ahead of skiers who regularly qualify for
World Cup finals. She also cranked in the city-sprint in Luzern.
Esther Bottomley, City-Sprint B-Final
St Gallen, Switzerland, December 2004
December 7 - Kuusamo: The
Inside Story
After a week without communication since the Kuusamo World Cups
Ben Sim and Nick Almoukov have surfaced in Russia, having competed in
the. Here's a summary of the Kuusamo races from Ben:
Kuusamo 15km Freestyle World Cup, November 27
Evan though everything you can possibly imagine happened to try and
stop us getting to Finland we made it right on time for the arrival
day of the Kuusamo World Cup, which was really in Ruka about 30km
from Kuusamo. My mood was happy to be at the tracks but not happy
about the weekend's forecasts of -24 degrees C. Ruka's race track is
a very hilly 5km loop with some stupid corners that don't five you
much time for rests. By Friday I started to feel like a skier again
and was ready for Saturdays 15km freestyle event. Waking up on
Saturday was a warm relief of only -17 degrees.. The new World Cup
starting procedure seemed to work well with the slowest skiers
starting first and the World Cup leader starting last. it means other
competitors around you are skiing at about the same pace. Being one
of the early starters meant that I got TV time which is always a
highlight. In front of me started last year's World Junior silver
medalist Koschevoy from Kazakhstan and for the first 10km I was about
6 seconds up on him. But being my first race I got sore shins and
lactic acid built up in the legs and I finished 98th just under 12%
behind the winner Vincent Vittoz from France. His time was a very
fast 35:26 on slow cold snow. By 1:30pm it was dark so skiing in the
arvo was under lights getting ready for the next day's race.
Kuusamo 15km Classical World Cup, November 28
Again about -18 degrees C but this time I was prepared with all kinds
of clothes. Feeling a bit sore from the day before I managed to warm
up well and Nick nailed the wax when a lot of the other teams didn't.
This time I started out a lot slower then picked up the pace later on
in the race. This time I got a very cold face (probably because it
was very humid) and for the first time ever I shut my eyes on a
downhill and found that I couldn't open them again. It was an
experience trying to open them and not crash at the same time. I
finished a lot stronger in the classic only 9.5% behind the winner
Axel Teichmann of Germany. His wierd looking facial hair turned into
a long ice axe hanging off his chin and I'm sure it weighed a couple
of kilos. So far this is best result behind the world leader and if
it was last year I would have got about 57 FIS points, but because of
new FIS rules I got 77.4 points.
Now that I finally had some good World Cups I was keen to do more,
but instead we drove back to Russia for the Russian Championships. My
best result in these competitions was in the 10km classical event -
7th in the junior class out of about 100 skiers. The winner's time
was 28:58 and I was 30:02.
A good start to the racing season by Ben, his next World Cup races
will be in the Czech Republic in January.
Ben Sim, racing in Tobulsk
(He won the junior division and 3700 Rubles)
Russia, December 2004
December 4 - Bottomley Makes
Australian Best
Today in Switzerland Esther Bottomley recorded Australia's best
ever place in a World Cup. The 21-year-old from Mt Beauty finished
36th in the World Cup Sprint in Bern, only 1.16 seconds outside
recording our first ever World Cup points (top 30). A combination of
a few extra days post-illness and a slightly shorter 800m track
seemed to make all the difference from Esther's first sprint in
Luzern two days ago. She was fast out of the start and managed to
hold on in the long finish straight to be just 6.56 seconds behind
the fastest qualifier and current Sprint World Cup champion Marit
Bjoergen of Norway. Unfortunately the short fast and pretty much flat
course was not as suitable for KT Calder. KT signed the list in 45th
place, 13 seconds off the pace.
Paul Murray woke up this morning certain that this would be his
day to take World Cup points, but had to be content with finishing
52nd in a very competitive field of 71 starters. The men's event was
1350m long, and it was that last 350m that took its toll and dropped
Paul from around the top half of the field to just outside the top
2/3 (~ 2 seconds). Still, it is a much better start than the World
Cup Sprint in Dusseldorf last year, and Paul is still pumped for the
Asiago sprint in 10 days time when 30 skiers are taken to the finals.
Norwegian skiers dominated the finals, with Tor-Arne Hetland
winning the men's final and Marit Bjoergen the women's. Five
Norwegian men and three women made it to the semi-finals, including
new 17-year-old sensation Guro Strom Solli.
For
the full results...
The team in middle Europe now moves to Davos for the next week,
where there will some Continental Cup distance events on the weekend.
On Wednesday some of the team will take a day trip to St Gallen for
the last of the Swiss city-sprint events.
Esther Bottomley flies out at the start
Bern World Cup, December 2004
December 2 - Short But Not Yet
Sweet
Last night in Luzern was the first of the Swiss City-Sprint
events, with two more to be held over the next week. It was a
spectacular event on the bank of the lake right outside the Kunst
& Kongress Haus in downtown Luzern, however the performances of
the Australian skiers were not as spectacular. The field was pretty
good, with a handful of top Germans and Russians in the women's
sprint and a dozern top Norwegians and Germans in the men's event.
Esther Bottomley was the closest to qualifying for the finals,
finishing 10th in the 1km time trial, just under 9 seconds behind the
fastest qualifer Isabel Klaus from Germany but still nearly 5 seconds
from making the top 8 (only the top 8 women were taken to the
semi-finals, no quarter-finals). KT Calder was another 3.6 seconds
back in 12th place. In the men's event Trond Iverson from Norway
walloped the field, leaving Duane Butcher and Tim Retchford
languishing in 41st and 42nd place, 16 and 17 seconds off the pace.
Full results are available on the
City-Sprint site. None of the Australians felt
they had any real spark, and struggled a little on the flat and tight
500m loop in mushy wet snow (it was firm to start off with, but was
hacked up by the end of the warm-up). Tim said he felt "all over the
shop"; KT reckoned she needed another 3-4 laps to come up to speed.
Sereina Mischol from Switzerland went on to win the women's final,
with Norwegian relative newcomer Arve Skaaren winning the men's final
(OK he is ranked 31st in the world, but is still only 10th Norwegian
and hasn't made a world cup final).
Paul Murray is arriving in Switzerland tomorrow to join Esther and
KT for the Bern World Cup on Saturday. The course will be similarly
flat as Luzern, with only one bridge, and will be 800m for women and
1350m for men. Paul trained intervals yesterday with Swedish sprinter
Mikael Ostberg and says he feels like he is in good shape. Esther and
KT will need to find their sprinting legs a bit more if they are to
be competitive on the weekend. Harder snow will likely help as well.
Duane Butcher in action
Luzern, Switzerland, December 2004
November 28 - Cleaning Out
The Cobwebs
So with just enough snow in the right places the racing season is
underway for Australians in Europe. This weekend Australian skiers
took part in competitions in Finland, Sweden and Switzerland...
World Cup, Kuusamo, Finland, November 26-28
Ben Sim and coach Nick Almoukov arrived in Finland only 2 1/2
days before the first of the men's World Cup events in Kuusamo, Ben's
first races of the season. In the 15km freestyle on November 27 Ben
finished in 98th place out of 100 starters, 11.9% behind the winner
Vincent Vittoz of France. The placing doesn't sound impressive, but
this is not a bad result. There are no bunnies on World Cup. This was
Ben's best % result in a distance World Cup or World Championship
event, and last year would have given him FIS points of 71. That is,
it was Ben's best result until today in the 15km classic, where he
finished 92nd, only 9.6% behind Axel Teichmann of Germany. With the
new FIS calculation factors this was 77.4 FIS points, or 58.1 points
last season. Not bad at all for an opening weekend of racing. Full
results are up on the FIS website.
No news yet from the guys in Finland, hopefully we will get a
first hand report sometime soon. Ben and Nick now return to Russia to
train for a few weeks before heading down to Slovakia to join the NSW
Junior Team later in December.
Swiss Cup, Goms, Switzerland, November 27-28
Swiss Cup events are always very well organised and usually have a
pretty decent competitive field. An unexpected addition of 26
Russians (apparently due to extreme cold conditions for training in
Russia) to the races in the Goms, including such names as Sidko,
Nageijkina, Rocheva, Krianine, Revin, Schlundikov and Bolchakov, made
it a bloody tough field.
KT Calder skied a solid race in the women's 5km freestyle on
Saturday, finishing in 18th place out of 53 starters and smack on 10%
behind the winner Alena Sidko from Russia (and with only 5 Swiss
skiers ahead of her.) Tim Retchford finished in 88th place out of 105
in the men's 10km freestyle, blowing away some cobwebs before the
sprint events starting next Wednesday. Today the scheduled classic
mass start events were changed to freestyle because of the very thin
snow cover. KT started well in the women's 7km, and was only 18
seconds from the leaders at about the 4km mark. However when the pace
started to hammer in the closing kilometers KT's head didn't quite
manage the switch to "now I have to go fast" and she dropped to 20th
place 1:38 behind the winner Olga Rocheva from Russia. Still, it was
a good couple of races to kick-start the body and things are looking
promising for the season ahead.
Link
to results.
Folksam Sprint Cup/Intersport Cup, Bruksvallarna, Sweden,
November 27-28
Paul Murray opened his racing account in Sweden with the Folksam
Cup Sprint in Bruksvallarna on Saturday, finishing 11th in the
qualifying time trial 13 seconds behind the fastest qualifier Bjorn
Lind of Sweden. He was then knocked out by only a meter in the 1/4
final by Swedes Jerry Ahrlin and Mats Larsson, and ended up in 9th
position overall. Lind won the final, then backed up the next day to
win the 10km classic event. Paul finished in 40th place in the 10km
today, 2:29 off the pace about 9% behind. Leon Spiller was to compete
here as well but had to skip the races due to illness. Results are on
the Funasdalen website if you can navigate in
Swedish.
Some other snippets from various locations. Paul Murray and Leon
Spiller had their car stolen in Sweden a week ago, including 4 pairs
of skis and 4 pairs of poles. It turned up two days ago totally
stripped and empty. The only consolation was that the skis were rock
skis due to the thin snow cover in Borlange. Esther Bottomley in
Switzerland has been sick for about 6 days, but may just be healthy
again for her first scheduled sprint race in Luzern next Wednesday.
Duane Butcher is en route from Norway to Switzerland today in
preparation for that same sprint.
Tim Retchford racing in Swiss Cup
"The Goms" (near Ulrichen), Switzerland, November 2004
November 24 - Cheers!
Another season has already begun for the Australian Cross Country
Ski Team. The main focus this year is in Europe, and team members are
already on snow in Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. After
some initial nail-biting and even some rollerskiing in Sweden snow
managed to fall in all the right places.
The biggest event this season is the 2005 World Championships in
Oberstdorf in Germany. Six Australian skiers are already qualified -
Ben Derrick, Ben Sim, Esther Bottomley, Clare-Louise Brumley, KT
Calder, and Paul Murray - and there are seven to eight other skiers
who will have a chance to join them if they hit form in the right
races. Current planning hedges the bets for a team of nine athletes,
with a support staff of one manager, two coaches, two wax
technicians, and possibly a masseur/physiotherapist. Putting together
the support team is not an easy task, as funds are tight and everyone
will have to pay their own expenses to get there. The final team for
Oberstdorf will be selected on February 1, with the last chance to
qualify in FIS points races on the last weekend of January.
This season we will be contesting more World Cups than ever
before; up to 18 or more races at eight or nine locations. Ben Sim
was to open the Australian 2004-2005 World Cup account in Sweden last
weekend; however now after some transport hiccups he will start on
November 27 in Kuusamo in Finland. Ben tags off then to the sprint
team of Paul Murray, Esther Bottomley and KT Calder down in central
Europe, who will contest a freestyle city-sprint at Bern in
Switzerland and a classic sprint at Asiago in Italy. If KT Calder is
in form she will also take on the 15km Freestyle in Ramsau in Austria
on December 18. After a break for Christmas and the New Year the
Australian World Cup campaign becomes more selective, with only the
Czech World Cups (sprint in Prague and freestyle distance in Nove
Mesto) in January and the pre-World Championship World Cups (sprint
and freestyle distance in Reit im Winkl, Germany) in February being
contested. Post World Championships the current plans are to compete
in the city sprints at Drammen in Norway and Gothenberg in Sweden.
As well as World Cup and the World Championships, competitions
will include the OPA Continental Cup, Worldloppet, FIS
internationals, and the World University Winter Games in Seefeld. The
number of Australians competing in these events grows as the season
progresses, starting with a core group of 3-4 athletes at the end of
November and building up to 10-12 by the end of January. Most of
these remain with the team after they arrive, though some like Paul
Murray and Ben Sim will return to their respective training bases in
Sweden and Russia after competing in specific events. Only three team
members will start off their winters in North America, with Nick
Grimmer coming across from the USA to Europe just before the WUWG in
Seefeld, Andrew Wynd competing on the USA Super Series until the end
of January, and Sally Cunningham training in the USA until just prior
to the WJC in Rovaniemi. Most of the races that will be contested are
listed on the Race Schedules link
at the top left of this page, though some plans may change throughout
the season.
My personal expectations of the team are higher than even before;
we have so many athletes ready, hungry to take that next step. It has
taken five years to build up the depth of Australian skiing again at
the international level, to have so many skiers qualified for World
Cup. But this is only the first step, not the top of the ladder. We
must climb higher and venture out of our comfort zone, take risks and
be prepared to fail. We have set new benchmarks - we shouldn't be
satisfied just to reach the same level again.
We will endeavour to post regular reports throughout the season
and keep everyone back home up to date with news and results. Here's
to a successful season!
Finn Marsland
National Team Coach
Fiesch, Switzerland, November 24, 2004.
