The 2015 Australian Junior Championship finished up today with the Freestyle Distance events at Falls Creek. Snow instead of rain made for much more favourable conditions for athletes, officials and spectators, and an exciting day of racing.
There was close racing right from the start of the day, with just 0.2 seconds separating Callum Smith and Jayden Spring for first and second in the U12 boy’s 1.5km Freestyle. Heli Laajoki won the U12 girl’s 1.5km. In the U14 2.5km events the first girl was Nicola Smith and the first boy was Tommi Silvester. Jarrah Forrer won the U16 5km Freestyle, while Freya Clarke won the U16 4km Freestyle. In the U18/U20 combined Open Junior 5km Kat Paul made it a clean sweep of the weekend ahead of the U18 champion Lilly Boland, with Swiss biathlete Laura Caduff taking third place. The final race, the U18/U20 Open Junior 7.5km saw a very tight race between the top three skiers, with Liam Burton finishing the strongest to take the Open and U18 victory ahead of Damon Morton and Seve de Campo.