Australian skiers compete for rollerski National titles in Stromlo Park this weekend

The Australian Rollerski Championships are going back to Stromlo Forest Park, Canberra, on April 10-11, just over a year after the 2020 edition had to be canceled due to the public health crisis caused by COVID-19. 
 
The weekend includes Freestyle Sprint competitions on Saturday and Freestyle Mass Start distance events on Sunday, with categories for Open, Masters and Juniors. The Open class races are also FIS International events, counting towards world rankings. 
 
With around 50 participants expected to take part, the weekend will provide skiers and spectators with fun and adrenaline in equal measure. The head-to-head racing formats are easy to follow, with the first across the line taking the honours. For Australia’s elite cross country skiers the atmosphere will be very similar to Australian winter on-snow events, as the same competitors are set to be on the starting line. 
 
“The atmosphere at the Nationals is competitive for sure,” confirmed 2020 Junior Skier of the Year Bentley Walker-Broose. 
 
“Normally, the vast majority of us would have just finished racing overseas and have now arrived back in Australia. However, this year most of us have stayed at home and trained all summer. In a way, that has made us even more excited and competitive, as we want to see how well our training has worked out and see how much we have improved. 
 
“Personally, training has been really solid these past few months. Having the opportunity to have a summer training block has been really beneficial towards my overall development, and I feel that I have improved in a lot of ways from it,” said Walker-Broose.
 
Some athletes are competing at the Championships at the end of a solid endurance training block, as shown by the impressive 100km-long rollerski sessions that 2018 Winter Olympian Casey Wright and Walker-Broose himself recently shared on social media.

 “The 100km rollerski was actually something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while,” Walker Broose said. “I was doing a volume training block and found that if any time was a good time to do it, it would be during that period. It is definitely by far the longest rollerski I have ever done, even though I've had harder shorter sessions.”

 After finishing second in the sprint and third in the criterium at the National Championships in 2019,  Walker-Broose will now have a go at taking a title. He’ll try to build on his recent form which allowed him to take the win in the sprint event at the FIS Rollerski International in February.  
 
“I feel quite confident in my fitness and I am definitely much stronger now than what I was in 2019. It will be a very exciting race and I am looking forward to testing out my hard work.
 
“From a motivational standpoint it [having the opportunity to compete] is absolutely fantastic. Racing gives us the opportunity to put our hard work into practice and show what we have,” he said.
 
Walker-Broose will face tough competition in the men’s event from National Team athletes Seve de Campo and Mark Pollock, who were among the few Australian cross country skiers able to travel and compete overseas this season, including at the recent 2021 World Championships in Germany. On the women’s side, the top seeds are Wright, fellow 2018 Winter Olympian Aimee Watson, and 2020 Youth Winter Olympic athletes Rosie Fordham and Zana Evans.
 
The event kicks off on Saturday at 9:15am with the Freestyle Sprint Time Trials. All competitions will follow Snow Australia's COVID-19 protocols for rollerski events. Access for spectators is free, with scan-in required, using the Check-In CBR QR Codes on the side of the track. 
 
For more information head over to the event page on Snow Australia’s website.