Cross-country skier David Hislop competed in the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympic Games and the 1988 Calgary Games. 

He got into skiing late and developed a passion while racing in the Perisher Cup and University Games. After winning the Australian Championship 30km in 1983 and 1985, between 1985 and 1989 he dominated the Perisher Pub-to-Pub, at the time the largest ski race in the southern hemisphere, winning the event five times back-to-back.

After his first Olympics in 1984, Hislop became attracted to endurance events and began racing in Cross-country ski marathons. In 1985 David set the record for the fastest Cross-country time from Perisher to Kiandra, a distance of 80km. In doing so, he shattered the 21-year old record from Finnish skier Robbie Kilpinen, who had stopped the clock at eight hours and eleven minutes in 1964. David, skiing solo over some of Australia’s wildest terrain, completed the distance in six hours and eighteen minutes. What made the achievement even more remarkable was the fact that he had attempted the trip a first time just two days earlier, only to get lost after nine hours of skiing. 

As of 2020, Hislop was still the only Australian skier to complete the 90km Vasaloppet under 4 hours and in 1995 he recorded the best results for an Australian in the race with a 35th place. David also finished in the top 20 in other ski marathons including the Transjurassienne (FRA) and the Dolomitenlauf (AUT). 

After the Calgary Olympics he branched out into other endurance events, achieving success in sports including kayaking, cycling, rogaining and also competing in multi-sport endurance events. In 1988 he finished second in the ‘Conquer the Arctic’ and two years later he won the Test of the Toughest, a surf lifesaving endurance event.

In 1998 he won the International Survival of the Fittest and later set the TK1 record for the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, paddling with his twin brother Rod. 

Over the years Hislop kept an interest in Cross-country skiing and served on several committees, including as Chair of the Australian Ski Federation Cross-country Committee between 1990-1992 and Chair of NSW Cross-country Committee between 2014-2015.

David currently lives in Sydney.