Australia will send the largest cross country contingent in its Olympic history to Torino 2006, and also have representatives in every snowboard event for the first time after the latest round of northern hemisphere competition.
Australia will send the largest cross country contingent in its Olympic history to Torino 2006, and also have representatives in every snowboard event for the first time after the latest round of northern hemisphere competition.
Skiing in a World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, Victorian Esther Bottomley finished in 39th place, securing a top 80 per cent of field result in what was her last chance to register a qualifying performance.
She joins fellow Victorians Paul Murray, who had posted a qualifying result for Games selection in the first two sprint events of the season, and Clare-Louise Brumley, who has produced her qualifying result in the pursuit event in Le Relais, Canada, in mid-December.
Australia has had two cross country representatives at a Winter Games on six occasions, but never topped that number. Torino will also be the first time that the team has included two women.
KT Calder, Ben Sim, Ben Derrick and Brumley will also be chasing qualification results for the women's 30km and men's 50km events in Torino at a World Cup in Val di Fiemme, Italy, on January 14.
In snowboard, Emily Thomas ticked off the last of her qualifying requirements by finishing in third place in a Nor-Am Cup race in Mt Hood Meadows, Oregon.
The result means that Australia will have at least seven competitors in snowboard at the 2006 Games. Thomas and Damon Hayler have met the qualifying requirements in snowboard cross, Johanna Shaw and Emanuel Oppliger have done the same in parallel giant slalom, and Torah Bright, Holly Crawford and Andrew Burton have all met the halfpipe performance criteria of the Australian Olympic Committee and the International Ski Federation.
The halfpipe ranks could also be swelled by the addition of Ben Mates and Mitchell Allan if they meet the International Ski Federation qualification requirements before January 24th.
Australia's team size for the 20th winter Games now looks like being a minimum of 33, which would make it the largest in the nation's history, exceeding the 31-member team which went to Squaw Valley in 1960.
That team, of course, included the only ice hockey team we have ever sent to a Games.
Skiing in a World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, Victorian Esther Bottomley finished in 39th place, securing a top 80 per cent of field result in what was her last chance to register a qualifying performance.
She joins fellow Victorians Paul Murray, who had posted a qualifying result for Games selection in the first two sprint events of the season, and Clare-Louise Brumley, who has produced her qualifying result in the pursuit event in Le Relais, Canada, in mid-December.
Australia has had two cross country representatives at a Winter Games on six occasions, but never topped that number. Torino will also be the first time that the team has included two women.
KT Calder, Ben Sim, Ben Derrick and Brumley will also be chasing qualification results for the women's 30km and men's 50km events in Torino at a World Cup in Val di Fiemme, Italy, on January 14.
In snowboard, Emily Thomas ticked off the last of her qualifying requirements by finishing in third place in a Nor-Am Cup race in Mt Hood Meadows, Oregon.
The result means that Australia will have at least seven competitors in snowboard at the 2006 Games. Thomas and Damon Hayler have met the qualifying requirements in snowboard cross, Johanna Shaw and Emanuel Oppliger have done the same in parallel giant slalom, and Torah Bright, Holly Crawford and Andrew Burton have all met the halfpipe performance criteria of the Australian Olympic Committee and the International Ski Federation.
The halfpipe ranks could also be swelled by the addition of Ben Mates and Mitchell Allan if they meet the International Ski Federation qualification requirements before January 24th.
Australia's team size for the 20th winter Games now looks like being a minimum of 33, which would make it the largest in the nation's history, exceeding the 31-member team which went to Squaw Valley in 1960.
That team, of course, included the only ice hockey team we have ever sent to a Games.
