With ongoing Covid-19 restrictions in NSW and Victoria, all remaining Snow Australia cross country skiing championship events in the 2021 winter are now cancelled. This includes the already postponed Australian Championship and Continental Cup event scheduled for 4/5 September at Falls Creek, and the previously announced AUSXC Junior Cup events that were to be held in August at both Falls Creek and Perisher.
Club events and unofficial time trials organised by state and national coaches may still go ahead at short notice if and when local restrictions permit.
“It is disappointing to have to cancel almost all national level races for the second winter in row,” said Finn Marsland, Snow Australia Cross Country Skiing Program Director. “Race organisers have been very flexible in keeping options open as long as possible, but we’ve reached the point now that we just have to draw a line under our official events.” The Australian Open at Perisher on 7/8 August was the only national event able to be run, albeit with a limited field.
Snow Australia is still optimistic about the prospect of sending teams to international events at the end of the year. Major events for the 2021/2022 season include the the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in China, the World Universiade Winter Games in Switzerland, and the World Junior/U23 Championship in Poland. Expressions of interests for the latter of these events have been called for via these links:
The nomination of cross country skiing athletes to the Australian Team for Beijing 2022 will take place after competitions in Europe in December. Further details of the qualification, nomination and selection processes are available on the Snow Australia website.