FREESTYLE: Australia’s seven member mogul skiing squad will go into the World Cup in Calgary, Canada, this weekend, determined to maintain the momentum created in the season’s opening round in December.

Teenager Britt Cox, who won the season’s first qualification session in Ruka, Finland, and ended the event just one place away from a podium finish overall and Matt Graham, also in fourth in the tour’s first stop, are looking to strengthen their claim for a place in Australia’s team at February’s Sochi Olympic Winter Games in Russia.

The duo are the first to admit that with five World Cup rounds to go before the Australian team is named that they need to sustain their pressure.

Added to the interest generated by Cox and Graham, Australia’s most successful winter Olympian, Dale Begg-Smith is competing for only the second time since 2010.

Begg-Smith demonstrated his enormous talent in Ruka by finishing in fifth, which was highly impressive given his lengthy absence from competition.

However, Begg-Smith’s hopes of adding to his gold and silver Olympic medals depend heavily on his progress in the events before the January 20 cut-off date for Sochi.

He has maintained a high level of physical condition during his time away from skiing but he is now looking to re-establish himself in competition.

Fellow athletes Nicole Parks, Brodie Summers, Sam Hall and Taylah-Paige O’Neill are all approaching the gruelling competition schedule, five World Cup events in 16 days, with a high level of confidence.

The squad has been training at the Colorado resort of Steamboat in the United States since competing in Finland.