Phoebe's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Cross-Country Skiing
Olympic History: Milano Cortina 2026
Highlights: Representing Australia at Milano Cortina 2026
Year Born: 2001
About Phoebe
Phoebe Cridland has progress through the junior ranks and will make her Olympic debut at Milano Cortina 2026. At the 2023 World Championships she anchored Australia’s women’s relay team to 12th place, the best result by an Australian team in the event.
Phoebe is part of a new wave lifting Australian cross‑country skiing onto the world stage. She came to the sport through Interschools racing for PLC Sydney before moving to SCEGGS, she also has a grounding in gymnastics that sharpened her balance and coordination on snow.
First selected to the national team at 15 she toured Canada and Europe with the junior squad soon. She was also in the Sydney University Elite Athlete Program during her studies in Science and Law.
By the northern winter of 2021–22, Phoebe had progressed to the Under 23 ranks and the World Junior and Under 23 Championships in Lygna, Norway. She placed 52nd in the women’s 10‑kilometre classic and helped Australia to 17th in the mixed 4×5‑kilometre relay, part of a record campaign for the team. On home snow that year she was an Australian Championships podium finisher at Falls Creek, a marker of her domestic rise.
Late in 2022, Phoebe made her World Cup debut, then earned selection for the 2023 World Championships in Planica, Slovenia. She contributed to the team sprint qualifying round and placed 47th in the 10‑kilometre freestyle, her first individual result at senior championship level. The season ended with a milestone for Australia: the nation’s first World Cup mixed relay entry, with the team of Ellen Søhol Lie, Phoebe, Lars Young Vik and Phillip Bellingham placing 17th in Falun.
Named to Snow Australia’s senior and Under 23 national squads for 2023–24, Phoebe split her time across Scandinavian Cup and World Cup starts as Australia expanded its presence on the circuit. At the 2024 World Junior/Under 23 Championships in Planica she recorded a personal‑best championship result of 37th in the 20‑kilometre freestyle.
The 2024–25 season marked another step. Selected to the World Cup team, Phoebe headed into the Trondheim 2025 World Championships after pre‑Worlds racing in Cogne and Falun. In Trondheim, she opened strongly, placing fourth in the 7.5‑kilometre qualification race to earn her start in the 10‑kilometre classic. She then finished 42nd in the 10‑kilometre classic and also contested the sprint event.
Most notably, Phoebe skied the anchor leg of Australia’s women’s 4×7.5‑kilometre relay, bringing the team of Tuva Bygrave, Ellen Søhol Lie, Rosie Fordham and herself home in 12th—the best World Championship relay result ever by an Australian team—during a fortnight that also saw Australia’s first women’s team‑sprint final.
A week later she produced a career‑best World Cup distance finish, placing 41st in the 20‑kilometre interval‑start classic at Oslo’s Holmenkollen, and added 51st in the 10‑kilometre freestyle, underscoring her steady gains in the senior field.
In October 2025 she was provisionally named again to Snow Australia’s World Cup team for 2025–26, reflecting both form and potential as the build‑up to the Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games continued.
At the Ruka World Cup in Finland, Phoebe was 46th in the 20-kilometre freestyle mass start. At the Trondheim World Cup in Norway, she was 44th in the 10-kilometre freestyle. At her final World Cup competition before the Olympics, at Davos (SUI), she raced the Team Sprint with Rosie Fordham (18th), the Sprint Freestyle (54th) and the 10-kilometre Freestyle (50th).
Beyond race results, Phoebe has given back to her sport, serving as an athlete representative on Snow Australia’s Cross Country Committee from 2022 to 2024, and has long balanced elite competition with university study. With Australia now fielding full women’s line‑ups at championship level and achieving best‑ever relay placings, her trajectory mirrors the program’s broader rise—and keeps her dream of Olympic representation in sight for 2026.
