Alpine Performance Plan delivery underway as Olympic hopefuls target 2022 Winter Games qualification

With less than 200 days to go to the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, the Australian alpine team is in full delivery mode, implementing the Alpine Performance Plan and paving the way towards the most important event of the next Northern Season.

Led by recently appointed Alpine Performance consultant Mick Branch, Snow Australia staff have been meeting with alpine Olympic hopefuls to discuss the qualification process and the path towards a possible Games selection.

“We wanted to understand what gaps and opportunities currently exist for each athlete, not only under a performance perspective, but also in terms of funding and support, things which may have a significant impact on the overall process,” said Branch.

“I am in touch with the athletes on a weekly basis and I make sure that they have all the information they need to fully understand where their best opportunities to qualify for the next Olympic Winter Games lie.”

The National Alpine Committee was also convened recently to discuss the athletes’ feedback and review how to best address the existing gaps in order to provide the necessary support.

Snow Australia Alpine Director Shawn Fleming said that discussing Nomination and Selection criteria with the athletes is also an important part of the process to secure quota spots for our country and eventually get Australian athletes to compete at the Games.

“It goes without saying that our goal is to qualify the maximum number of alpine athletes for the 2022 Winter Games,” he said. 

“We want to ensure that there is a consistent and productive communication process in place between athletes and coaches, so that we are able to support them directly and also provide access to crucial service staff such as Athlete Engagement and Wellbeing professionals and physiotherapists.”

With travel restrictions and COVID-19 scenarios constantly evolving both domestically and internationally, athletes will also rely on support staff to provide them with the most up-to-date information and advice, as they navigate travel planning, exemption requests and possible event cancellations. 

“Of course we face some additional challenges compared to previous Olympic cycles,” said Snow Australia Performance Manager Ben Wordsworth.

“But we are confident that the structure we have in place is solid and will be able to support our athletes as they go through the qualification process and hopefully on to represent our country at the Winter Olympic Games next year in Beijing,” Wordsworth said.