A record number of British Freestyle Team skiers have headed 'down under' to train and compete in Australia during their winter season.

In the first moguls competitions this weekend at Mount Hotham, Victoria 11 Brits challenged some of the world's best to try to make Olympic qualification.

The competition was held on the Australia Drift piste, a 163m 22 degree bump slope. Mogul skiing is judged on the quality of the turns, the skill and difficulty of 2 jumps landed into the moguls and on speed.

A top 5 place in the Australian events over the next month meets international Olympic qualification standards. The British Olympic Association will select the British team for the Salt Lake in February 2002 from those who qualify by January.

British A Team members Joanne Bromfield (18, Salt Lake City) and Sam Temple (29, Oxford) have already met the international critera from previous events. Joanne was 5th on Saturday and took the bronze medal on Sunday. Sam skied into 12th place from a field of 37 on Saturday but illness prevented him competing on Sunday.

The third A Team member, Simon Bates (24, Edinburgh) is edging towards a place at the Games, achieving 9th on Saturday and 10th on Sunday. 'I got the speed right both days and pulled two good jumps on Saturday but my turns weren't so good.' reported Simon.

Two young men to watch from the English team are Martin Nankoo (19, Kent) and Andy Bennett (17, Kneesall). Martin just made the final 16 on Saturday and Andy skied into 11th place on Sunday. Andy commented, 'I took too much speed into the second air for my triple twister and cleared the landing by 3 bumps on Saturday so I changed my second jump to another spin on Sunday as I get scored more for this'. Laura Donaldson (29, Glasgow), British Development Team, was 8th in the women's event both days.

The Women's World Class Performance Snowboard Team will also be in Southern Hemisphere action early next month as the World Cup tour kicks off in Chile.

Competition will be tough, as the halfpipe ladies strive to secure rankings in the World's top 20 to earn start slots at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. With one starter assured, thanks to two silver medals and a final FIS ranking of 7th for Lesley McKenna (27, Aviemore) at the end of the 2001 season, Melanie Leando (25, Jersey) will hope to put last year's injuries behind her and gain a 2nd British entry to the Olympic halfpipe competition.

Closer to home, The British Land Alpine Team are entering an intense snow training phase on the glaciers of Central Europe. Following snow camps in Kaunertal and fitness triaining and testing at the British Olympic Association's new overseas training base in Lofer, Salzburgerland, the men and women of the Alpine Team are currently honing their technical skills in Saas Fee, Switzerland.

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