Australian XC Skiing

The next city sprint in the World Cup circuit was held in Moscow, Russia. Three Australian athletes took part in the sprint- Esther Bottomley, Callum Watson and Mark Van der Ploeg. The conditions for the sprint were cold with cold, dry snow making times slower and the field spread out.

Esther Bottomley finished 54th in the women’s time trial, with the final event being won by Poland’s Justyna Kowalcyz. Callum Watson and Mark Van der Ploeg finished 63rd and 64th respectively, equal to the bib numbers they wore on the start line. Teodor Peterson of Sweden was the men’s final winner.

Coach Finn Marsland said, “I had high expectations for this event that were not met. The location was great but the crowd was disappointing, and unfortunately all three of our athletes there picked up a minor cold as we left Austria. It was very cold and slow snow, which helped to spread out the time gaps.”

After the sprint in Moscow, Callum Watson and Mark Van der Ploeg headed for Rybinsk to contest the 15km Freestyle Mass Start event there. Conditions were also cold in Rybinsk, with the race held at -18 degrees on very dry, slow snow. The course was held next to a scenic frozen lake, approximately 30 minutes out of Rybinsk. Finn Marsland commented, “In contrast to Moscow the atmosphere in Rybinsk was incredible. Great crowds and carnival feel, despite -20 degrees in the middle of nowhere.”

“The boys recovered quickly from their colds and skied reasonably well in the 15km. Callum would have liked to have hung with the main pack for longer but he didn’t quite have the extra gear. It was a good effort from Mark to avoid being overlapped on the 2.5km loop.”

Callum Watson finished in 59th place, 5:43 minutes off the race winner Canadian Devon Kershaw. Mark Van der Ploeg was next in 60th.

The team is currently completing an altitude training block in Livigno, Italy. Some of the athletes will then move to Erzurum, Turkey for the World Junior & Under 23 Championships.

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Australian World Cup cross-country skier Callum Watson has withdrawn his entry from the 2011-2012 FIS Tour de Ski. The 22-year-old from Sydney had been overseas training for the event since the start of November, however a collision during an interval session in early December disrupted his preparation. The FIS Tour de Ski is the premier event of the cross-country skiing World Cup season, featuring nine World Cup events in eleven days over the New Year period. Watson finished the 2010-2011 Tour de Ski in 36th place, the first Australian to complete the grueling multi-stage event.

Though able to compete in some of the recent World Cup events since the collision, Watson was forced to pull out of the 30km freestyle in Davos due to breathing difficulties associated with bruising to his rib cage. Feeling somewhat disappointed with his World Cup performances in Rogla, Watson said, “Right now it feels like I just haven’t quite yet reached good form which doesn’t make sense considering some of the results I achieved in the early season in Alaska. It is still gradually getting better and it was significantly better than last weekend in Davos so hopefully it will resolve itself by the next lot of races so I can see what sort of shape I am actually in.”

Watson made the decision not to race the Tour after consultation with Australian Head Coach Finn Marsland. “It doesn’t make any sense for an athlete to start the Tour if they are not 100% healthy and in good racing form,” said Marsland. “Maybe Callum might be up to race shape by the time the tour starts, but we didn’t want to take the risk. We agreed the better plan would be to race at nation cup or European Cup level for a few weeks and aim to hit the World Cup races in January and February ready to fire.”

The new race schedule for Watson includes the Swiss Cup in Campra just before the New Year, together with other athletes from the U23 Australian Team. The likely return to the World Cup circuit will be in January at the city sprint in Milan. Fellow World Cup Team athlete Esther Bottomley will also compete there, along with rising first year senior Phil Bellingham, who just reached the qualifying standard in the European Cup in Austria last weekend.

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