Hi my name is Lilly and I will be representing Australia for cross-country skiing at the Lillehammer 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Norway.

I am currently 16-years-old and live in Ulladulla on the South Coast of NSW. I got into cross-country skiing two years ago when I was asked to ski for my schools relay team. As a kid I’d skied and snowboarded so I thought I’d give the sport a go. I’ve always been into my sports since a young age. I have competed in gymnastics, touch football, athletics and cross-country running. For me cross-country skiing was a great fit. I loved the endurance side but also the fun on the downhills.

This season my goal was to qualify for the Australian junior team and qualify for the Lillehammer 2016 Winter Youth Olympics Games (YOG).

There were four qualifying races held over two weekends. The first set of races were held in Perisher and in the skate sprint and classic distance I qualified first for the eligible athletes fir YOG. The second set of races where held in Falls Creek this time it was a classic sprint and skate distance and once again I qualified first overall for the eligible YOG athletes. This season I qualified for the Junior team and gained a B qualification for the World Juniors but I will not be able to compete in as it is too soon after the Youth Olympics.

I was ecstatic when I received the email that I had been chosen as the representative at the YOG. Gaining the female spot means I will be racing in three events the cross-country cross (a new event), 5km skate distance and a classic sprint. I will travel over to Austria on January 11 to train with the Jnr team and compete in OPA Cup races in Austria and Switzerland then fly over to Lillehammer for the Youth Olympics.

I have recently ramped up my training here in the Australian summer to prepare for the Austrian winter. I recently spent one week in Falls with other members of the junior team. Training at Falls gave us the chance to train at high altitude. We would train in the morning and the afternoon and included intervals up the mountain, roller skiing and strength work in the gym. In the six days we were there I did a total of 14 hours.

Currently I am back in Ulladulla training hard. Each week I have three days where I train in the morning and the afternoon the other days are single sessions however I do get a rest day each week. My training consists of running, roller skiing, swimming and strength in the gym. The Youth Olympics are providing me with lots of motivation to train.

I am now counting down the days until I fly out to Austria to begin my overseas journey!  

Lilly