CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING: It was a tough day at the office for Australian in the gruelling men's and women's team sprint classic in Zhangjiakou.
With teams needing a top-four finish in their semi-final, or needing one of the next two fastest times to qualify for the 10 team medals race, it was always going to be a tough assignment to be in that elite company.
The men’s team of Seve de Campo and Phil Bellingham began with the main pack but couldn’t keep that pace going, eventually finishing their semi-final in 11th place and 22nd overall with a time of 21:17.35.
Phil believes competing in the team event brought out the best in him.
“I’ve always loved the team events. There’s different types of pressure as you are not controlling everything, but there’s certainly pressure as you don’t want to let your teammate down,” Phil said.
“It was great to be working alongside Seve, he’s a legend.”
Seve was happy with his start to the event before the pain took over.
“It started off really smoothly and getting a rhythm and then it started to open up. I could match it for a while, but a bit of a bummer not to beat the British team in the end… (finishing 2.08 seconds faster than the Aussies) at least we get to go back to Australia at the end.”
Both competitors were overwhelmed with the support on course from the rest of the Australian Team.
“Where we are staying in the Village with a lot of the freestyle [skiing] crew, we put the cross country on the TV and they learned a bit about it and to see so many of the team out her cheering us on was awesome,” Seve said.
Earlier the Australian pair of Jess Yeaton and Casey Wright finished in 8th place in their semi-final, and 16th overall in a time of 25:13.42.
Despite the calm conditions at the National Cross Country Skiing Centre, the Australian pair did find the course anything but idyllic.
“I think it was the toughest sprint course either of us have ever done and I’m really proud of our performance. It was a good effort,” Jess said.
While Casey found the relay competition a pleasant change in a sport often synonymous with solitude.
“It was fun to be out there. In an individual sport we just don’t get the opportunity to race as often in this format and it does mean a lot to have to push yourself for your teammate.”
Damian Kelly
#HaveAGo
Cross-Country Skiing
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