by Renee Wood
Former Mount Lilydale Mercy College student and Australian cross country skier Casey Wright will be heading to the Winter Olympics for a second time after receiving her official Olympic qualification for Beijing.
Ms Wright last qualified for the Olympics held in PyeongChang in 2018 where she made her debut representing Australia at the Games.
Following a month of qualifying events in Switzerland in December, Ms Wright was recommended to the Australian Olympic Committee to represent the country at this year’s Games once again.
“I was really happy to make it in the top two females for Australia, because we only had two spots for the women,” Ms Wright said.
Ms Wright was pleased to have secured a spot, after losing many competition opportunities due to the pandemic since the last games.
The skier bases herself in Switzerland and has been there since November last year but during the pandemic she was at home in Don Valley – the first northern hemisphere winter she’s missed in a decade.
“Basically coming off two years of not racing and then just jumping straight back into it with an Olympic qualification was definitely a little bit full on but I guess it’s like riding a bike – you never forget.”
Despite a lack of snow training, Ms Wright was able to maintain her fitness locally throughout the year to prepare for the winter games.
“I did do some training blocks up in Mount Beauty Falls Creek area, because that’s where my coaches are based, but majority of my season was spent around home.
Trail and mountain running and mountain bike riding have formed part of her regime in the local area.
“One of the great things about cross country skiing is that we have such a wide range of things we can do to keep fit. So majority of our sport is aerobically based and so anything that gets our aerobic system working is great training.”
Ms Wright will arrive in Beijing on Tuesday 1 February to settle in at the Aussie village and prepare for the games.
“We’ll just be spending the time learning the race courses, getting familiar with them and then also just testing our skis so that we have an idea of what the snow conditions are like.”
February 8 marks the 27 year old’s first qualifier as she looks to make it into the top thirty in the sprints to go through to the finals.
She’s hoping the experience gained from the past Olympic Games will help her deliver in Beijing.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get the results I was hoping for in Korea, is just kind of poor timing with some illness right before the games.
“But what I came away with was a wealth of experience and a lot of that I’m taking forward into these games, just helping me be a lot more relaxed and calm and just to know what to expect.
“It is just unlike anything you will have experienced before, so just having that experience under my belt is definitely helping me with some pre-games nerves.”
