Rosie's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Cross-Country Skiing
Olympic History: Milano Cortina 2026
Highlights: Getting a silver medal at the U23 Would Championships in 2025. I never imagined that an Australian Cross-Country Skier could make their way onto an international podium. It's a day I'll never forget.
Year Born: 2002
About Rosie
Rosie Fordham is rewriting the Australian cross-country skiing records and having breakthrough performances in a sport dominated by European nations. Milano Cortina 2026 will be her first Olympic Winter Games and there is great excitement not only in this sensational competitor but also the depth of talent across the Australian cross-country team.
She is the only Australian to ever win a top-tier international cross-country medal, with her silver at the Under 23 World Championships. She has now achieved the best results by an Aussie in senior World Championships, and her recent World Cup results again are the best-ever by an Australian and even better than she thought was possible this early in her senior career.
Raised in Sydney and introduced to cross‑country skiing through Interschools as a teenager, Rosie moved across from downhill and quickly found her stride in the classic Australian pathway of winter at Perisher and northern winters overseas. She later based herself in Fairbanks, Alaska, to combine study with a high‑quality training and racing environment, joining the University of Alaska Fairbanks set‑up while continuing to race for NSW Cross Country back home.
Early domestic and junior results hinted at her potential. As a school‑age athlete she placed third in the Australian Open 10 km in 2019 and 12th at the 2018 World Schools Cross‑Country Running Championships, experiences that cemented her appetite for hard racing and the satisfaction of “emptying the tank” that she often references.
By 2023, Rosie was collecting solid international age‑group finishes, including 13th in the 15 km free at the World University Games, and two top‑30 results at the Under 23 World Championships.
Rosie stepped into the senior World Cup in 2024 and made quick progress. She opened the 2024–25 northern winter with 55th in the 10 km at Ruka, then delivered a personal‑best 33rd in the Lillehammer 10 km free a week later. Team opportunities followed, with the women’s team sprint in Davos to accelerate her education against the world’s best.
Her breakthrough came in February 2025 at the Under 23 World Championships in Schilpario, Italy, where she won silver in the 10 km free. It was the first time an Australian had ever stood on an international cross‑country podium, a milestone celebrated across the domestic ski community. The result built on steady season‑long gains and showcased her strength in difficult, snowy conditions.
Confidence in hand, Rosie produced career‑best senior results in the lead‑up to and during the 2025 World Championships in Trondheim. She took 35th in the Falun World Cup 20 km mass start free, then headed to Norway for Worlds. In Trondheim she placed 37th in the women’s 10 km classic and, most notably, 20th in the inaugural women’s 50 km mass start free - Australia’s best individual distance finish at a World Championship. She and Ellen Søhol Lie finished 15th in the women’s team sprint, the first time an Australian women’s team reached a championship final, and Roise also helped the relay quartet of Tuva Bygrave, Ellen and Phoebe Cridland to 12th, Australia’s best women’s relay at World Championships level.
Post‑Worlds momentum continued in Oslo, where she recorded 45th in the 10 km free and 46th in the 20 km classic at Holmenkollen. Returning home for the Australian winter, she won the overall Australia–New Zealand Continental Cup series for a second straight year in 2025 after winning the 2024 series, securing Australia’s women’s quota place on the World Cup for 2025–26. She also won the 42 km Kangaroo Hoppet at Falls Creek, reinforcing her endurance credentials over long distance.
Rosie’s great form from the previous two seasons has continued to build on the World Cup season ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Highlights include finishing 35th in the 20km freestyle mass start at the Ruka (NOR) World Cup at the end of November 2025. She was in contention for top-30 throughout the race. A week later in Davos (SUI) she was 13th in the 10km freestyle. This was Australia’s best ever induvial World Cup performance and the only top-20 result for Australia in an individual World Cup race. And she also teamed up with Phoebe Cridland to finish 18th in the team sprint.
In January, she competed in the US National Championships and US Super Tour before travelling to Switzerland and winning their National Championships in the 10 km freestyle as a final pre-Olympic hit-out.
Recognition followed. Snow Australia named her Female Cross-Country Athlete of the Year for 2024, and the cross‑country community’s 2025 season awards again highlighted her historic Under 23 silver in Italy and championship results in Trondheim. Away from the snow she has sharpened her engine by racing NCAA cross‑country running with UAF, winning the 2024 NCAA Division II West Regional title and being named the region’s Runner of the Year.
Now in her early twenties and splitting time between Australia and Alaska, Rosie’s trajectory is unmistakably upward. Her consistency across sprint, interval and mass‑start formats, as well as championship relay experience, has her in a strong position to achieve more best-ever Australian Olympic results.
