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Cross-Country Skiing: Skiers happy in the hurt locker to complete Games

 

Cross-Country Skiing: Skiers happy in the hurt locker to complete Games

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AOC
Phil Bellingham

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING: The finish line at the Olympic cross-country competition is a portrait of pain. Athletes, minutes earlier the picture of athletic prowess on the course, empty every last drop of energy to cross the finish line, often only making it a metre over the finish line before collapsing to recover on the snow.

Cross-country skiers have some of the greatest anaerobic capacity in all of sport, pushing themselves to the limit in training so they can squeeze every last ounce of their performance on race day.

But the mental battle to find their limit – then push through it – is a vital part of the journey to become an Olympic cross-country skier.

And with the final events on the program the most gruelling – the women’s 30km and men’s 50km – Australian athletes are revelling in the challenge.

Triple Olympian Phil Bellingham knows exactly what pushing the limit feels like, already competing in the 30km skiathlon, free sprint, 15km classic and team sprint before finishing his Beijing program with the 50km mass start on Saturday.

“You push sort of to the point where you get in the zone and you're just trying to hang on to that feeling, pushing as hard as you can,” Phil said.

“It takes a little bit after crossing that line to come back down to earth. At that point, to think about racing a 50km is bit of a tough ask, but once I’ve had some rest, I’m all set and ready to go.

“The 50km has a different mindset - with the sprint race, you can try and hold yourself as close to your limit for as long as possible, but in the 50km we’ll have to be tactical.

“The last 10km is always pretty brutal - in Pyeongchang, I was starting to cramp pretty badly at like the halfway mark, you’re completely exhausted in the final but you just have to keep pushing through.”

The 30-year-old will go into his final event full of confidence after an impressive 22nd finish in the team sprint and being able to draw on his wealth of Olympic experience.

“I've been a lot more relaxed these Games and I know I can put a decent result in in the 50k. After that team sprint, Seve (de Campo) and I showed we're actually in quite good form - it's coming together and we can hopefully have another good result on Saturday.”

Dual Olympian Casey Wright was raring to give one last crack in her second Olympic campaign.

“I prefer the sprint distances but I'm really looking forward to the challenge and giving myself one last opportunity to push as hard as I can, to leave it all out there for the end of the Games,” Casey said.

“This is a really challenging course, and when you come into the stadium we’ve got a big sweeping left-hander and then the finish line is in sight - that's the end zone, that's the goal, and it doesn’t matter how much you're hurting you just push that to the side and go all out.

“When you cross the line, if you can keep standing, you try to keep standing, if not, you just take a few moments on the ground, catch a breath and know you’ve put absolutely everything out there.

“We work so hard, thousands of hours to get ourselves to this peak performance and we want to make sure that we're honouring all that time and effort we've put in over the years.

 

“My biggest goal is to put in an effort that I'm happy with, finish the Games with my head held high and be proud of what I've been able to achieve over here.

Catch Phil, Casey, Jess Yeaton and Seve de Campo as they finish their Beijing campaigns – with the men’s 50km mass start free on Saturday at 5:00pm AEDT and the women’s 30km mass start free, Australia’s final event of the Games, starting at 2pm AEDT on Sunday.

Dominic Sullivan

#HaveAGo

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Cross-Country Skiing

CAN YOU SKI IN AUSTRALIA?

Yes! There are 10 Ski Resorts in Australia that are easy to access.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Skiing is very affordable to #HaveAGo. You can rent all the equipment you need which is a low-cost way to try snowsports.

WHAT KIT DO I NEED?

All you need to get going is skis, poles, ski boots, a helmet, snow jacket, gloves and pants. All these items can be rented from ski shops to help get you started without having to buy everything for your first time.

#ChasingWinter

 
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