The pressure is on five junior male biathletes racing at Mount Hotham in Victoria this weekend at the Australian Championships. At stake is the one place available for the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games (WYOG) at Innsbruck, Austria in January 2012.

Biathlon is the sport which combines the arduous demands of cross country skiing with precision target shooting, and is a sport for the fast and the fit.

On Saturday the athletes will contest the distance race and on Sunday the sprint. Selection is based on a competitor’s best three results from four races; combining the placings from this weekend’s two races and the two races over the same distances a fortnight ago.

Alex Lewis from Chatswood in Sydney was the most consistent last time the school boys competed placing second in both races. The 15-year-old who works as a cross country ski instructor in the school holidays to help fund his sporting aspirations is very determined to win the spot for Innsbruck.

"I love biathlon and this year has been a very great and close competition. Hopefully I will be given the honour to represent Australia at WYOG."

Daniel Walker from Nth Bondi will look to continue his great form this weekend after winning the sprint event on Sunday.  

2010 Vancouver Olympian Alex Almoukov qualified the spot for Australia with his international results for the 2010/11 World Cup Series. Competition at Innsbruck 2012 for biathlon is limited to athletes born in 1994 and 1995.

A full wrap of the weekend’s racing will be available at http://corporate.olympics.com.au

Andrew Reid
AOC