Bentley Walker-Broose wants to put cross-country on the map
Published Thu 14 Oct 2021
With the European ski season approaching, Australian snow sports athletes are going through the final stages of their preparation before travelling overseas. Cross-country skiers are no different, with lots of speed sessions and intervals on their training menu. Despite the intensity of the efforts, 20-year-old Bentley Walker-Broose is grateful for having been able to train on snow during the domestic season this year.
“I love cross-country skiing because it's a challenge,” Walker-Broose said.
“It’s the kind of sport where you have to put your heart and soul into it, so you can really see how far you go. The work is so worth it when you finish a race after pushing yourself to your limit and know that deep down you have done your best,” he said.
Having spent the last Northern Hemisphere winter in Australia due to the pandemic, Walker-Broose was able to build on some solid roller skis training blocks before transitioning to skiing on snow. After such a long lead to the 2021-22 season and with the Australian Cross-country National Championships in Perisher the only real opportunity to test his progress in competition, Walker-Broose is looking forward to putting a bib back on.
“It definitely hasn’t been easy with COVID-19 cutting out most camps and nearly all racing, especially towards the end of the season. However it’s been another opportunity to get in some good months of consistent training on snow.
“It always feels amazing to be racing on snow, so any chance I get is appreciated and special. In racing you will take away so many things about your performance and it gives you a great idea of where you are at and what has improved.
“I feel that I will be pretty strong in the international winter,” he said.
You’ll forgive Walker-Broose for not lacking ambition off the back of a solid junior career which has seen him take part in two Junior World Championships and be celebrated as 2020 Australian Junior Skier of the Year. The National Junior Team member - also an accredited Level 1 Coach - has been developing steadily with the support of Snow Australia’s Emerging Talent Program (ETP) and won both the sprint and distance titles at the National Junior Championships at Falls Creek in 2019.
“Having that [ETP] kind of support at a young age is really important, so is having access to fundamental skills and different environments.
“I have really enjoyed the insightful and informative lectures about nutrition and so many other components of being an athlete that need to be learnt and shared. Having meetings where we get together as a group and talk, we can learn little pieces of information from all the different disciplines that help to make us better athletes,” he said.
Having good mentors is another key component of a young athlete’s development journey and Walker-Broose was able to rely on Winter Olympian Callum Watson, who has been his coach for the last four years. Watson taught him the value of work ethic in training and continues to inspire him to become the best cross-country skier he can be.
“During his career as an athlete, Callum has shown me that he could put in work where it really matters and seeing the passion he has for skiing is so motivating. He works hard to see us do our absolute best and wants to see the sport continue on for many years to come. He pathed the way for me when I was starting to race because I wanted to be just like him, flying around the course” he said.
In his first year out of Junior (U20) ranks, the NSWXC athlete has already been pre-selected to don the green and gold at the 2022 World U23 Cross-country Championships and at the postponed Winter World University Games (Winter Universiade), held in Lucerne, Switzerland, 11-21 December 2021. After so much hard work in training, Walker-Broose is keen to prove himself in competition, aiming to race well and show how strong he’s become. But he is also driven by a strong passion for the sport and an ambition to promote cross-country skiing and get more people involved. In this emerging talent, the Australian cross-country community seems to have found an ambassador for years to come.
“Our community is small, but we have a love for skiing that is almost unmatched by any other skiing group, in my opinion. We work really hard and push each other to be the best we can be and we want to prove that cross-country skiing should be enjoyed by everyone,” Walker-Broose said.
“Personally, I have so many things that I want to do over the next year and over my career.
“My main goal is to put Australia on the map for cross-country skiing. It's a sport that needs so much more love and appreciation and support than what it gets.
“I love the sport and I want everyone to try and experience that same passion that I have. I want to see many new people jump in and make themselves proud with what they can achieve,” he said.
About Snow Australia Emerging Talent Program
The Emerging Talent Program (ETP) is Snow Australia Talent Identification and Development (TID) program which aims to identify, support and enhance preparation of potential performance athletes for transition into the performance pathway programs. It is made possible by funding from the AIS Performance Pathway funding stream and with generous support from The Lind Partners and the Hancock Family.
The Lind Partners is a US-based institutional fund manager and leading provider of growth capital to small and mid-cap companies, including many Australian businesses, particularly in the mining sector. The partnership between Snow Australia and The Lind Partners is designed to nurture emerging talents and help them unlock their full potential. Lind Advisory Board member John Hancock made a further pledge to support Australia’s next generation of snow athletes via ongoing program donations, which will enable additional investment and support of the ETP. The generous support of both John and Gemma Hancock and The Lind Partners, through its founder Jeff Easton, will make a substantial difference to the capability of the ETP.