Figure Skating pair Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore have secured an Olympic quota place for Australia in the pairs event at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics after a ninth place finish at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, USA.
 
The pair started the event in great form, with a career best score of 66.73 in the short program, the eighth best score of the round.
 
In the final free skate program, they had another great skate scoring a season’s best 122.51, the ninth highest of the round.
 
The combined total score of 188.24 gave them a final ranking of ninth, securing a place for Australia at the Milano-Cortina games.
 
Ice Dance couple Holly Harris and Jason Chan have come heartbreakingly close to also securing a quote place, missing out by one spot after finishing 19th, and will have to attend an Olympic Qualification event later this year to secure a quota for Australia in 2026.
 
The couple opened with a score of 63.84 points in the rhythm dance, putting them in 18th and through to the top-20 free dance.
 
In the free dance, the couple scored 104.94 in the 19th highest score of the round, for a combined score of 174.78 and final ranking of 19th.
 
The skaters will be able to compete for additional Olympic quota places at the ISU Qualifying Competition in Beijing, China in late September 2025.
 
Quotes from Giotopoulos Moore and Golubeva (Courtesy of Golden Skate)


Giotopoulos Moore: “We’re definitely happy to have reached the end of this season and to have gotten through it fairly well today. Anastasia, I think, is a little upset about some small mistakes, but overall, we’re just happy to be done with this season.”
 
Golubeva: “Yeah, it was definitely a tough season. We missed a lot of competitions, but luckily, we’re healthy again now.”
 
Both shared that they feel really sad about letting go of this free program. “I loved it so much,” Golubeva said. “I think it’s our Favorite program that we’ve ever skated together.”

Lars Young Vik has finished 31st in the sprint event at the final World Cup of the season in Lahti, Finland, just missing the 30-man final by two hundredths of a second.
 
The result is a personal best for Young Vik on World Cup and Australia’s best male sprint performance since Phillip Bellingham made the top-30 in January 2018 just prior to the PyeongChang Olympics where he finished 29th. 
 
Young Vik also teamed up with 2022 Olympian Seve De Campo to finish in 26th place in the men’s team sprint.
 
A midweek World Cup took place prior to Lahti, in Tallinn, Estonia, where Young Vik was 53rd.
 
No Australian women competed in the final two events, due to a combination of illness and university commitments.
 
Australian Result Summary
 
Tallinn, Estonia
Men’s Sprint
Lars Young Vik – 53rd
Bently Walker-Broose – 75th
Fedele De Campo – 81st
 
Lahti, Finland
 
Men’s Sprint
Lars Young Vik – 31st
Seve De Campo – 77th
Fedele De Campo – 94th
 
Men’s Team Sprint
Lars Young Vik/Seve De Campo – 26th
 
50km Mass Start Classic
Seve De Campo – 59th
Lars Young Vik - 65th
Fedele De Campo - 68th

2022 Olympian Brendan Corey has skated to his third straight 1500m A-Final at the World Championships, just missing a medal in fifth place in Beijing, China.
 
In the opening round Corey finished first in his heat placing him straight into the semi-final avoiding the repechage rounds.
 
In the semi-final Corey crossed the line in fourth, but was advanced to the A-Final after being interfered with earlier in the race
 
In the A-Final, Corey came close to making it back-to-back World Championship podiums, just missing out on fifth place.  
 
Corey also finished 20th in the 1000m and 29th in the 500m.
 
Also in action was Australian Ice Racing skater Hyo Jin Kim who finished 27th (1500m), 39th 1000m and 33rd (500m) in women’s competition and in the men’s, Lucas Wareham was 39th (1500m), 42nd (1000m), and 49th (500m).
 
After the event Corey reflected on a successful World Championships.
 
“I was feeling very strong in the 1500m. I was well positioned, in third with two laps to go. Then one of my competitors did a desperate pass and I got pushed to the back of the back. He got penalised from the move but unfortunately, there's not advancements to medals!
 
“Overall, I'm happy with my performance. I was skating strong and confidently. I've been in the 1500m A final three consecutive years, and I'm sure my competitors are taking notice.”
 
“This has been my most consistent season in a single distance five times in the top 10 in the 1500m. I would not have been able to achieve this without the continued support of the OWIA and my personal sponsor, Heraldry Gold.”
 
“I'm feeling confident in the 1500m event and would consider myself a top contender in that distance. I need to focus this off-season on the short events. I'd like to be competitive in all three individual events at Milano Cortina 2026.”

2022 Olympians Bree Walker and Kiarra Reddingius have finished their competition season placing 13th in the two-woman event at the 2025 IBSF World Championships in Lake, Placid, USA.
 
Walker was impacted by illness for the entire event, the QAS pilot was ninth in monobob during the previous week. Both the two woman and monobob competitions were four-run combined time major championship format over two days.
 
The pair were 14th fastest in run one, two and three, and in the fourth and final run improved to the 11th best time of the round, posting a four-run combined time of 3:50.75 seconds.
 
The event winner 4.75 seconds ahead of Walker and Reddingius and leading a German clean sweep were Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi, their teammates Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig were second and Lisa Buckwitz and Kira Lipperheide third.
 
Australia also competed in the four-man bobsleigh, with pilot Rhys Peters joined by Jermayne Takapautolo, Jack Pennington and Benjamin Forst.
 
Unfortunately in the first run they crashed just after the halfway point, sliding the remainder of the track to the finish line in 24th.
 
The Australian sled did complete the run, so they were eligible for a second run, but it was cancelled due to warm conditions. They did not make the result cut for runs three and four.

The Australian Cross Country Skiing Team has returned to competition a week after the 2025 World Championships, remaining in Norway for a World Cup in Oslo.
 
Phoebe Cridland was the best place finisher for Australia in a personal best placing of 41st in the women’s 20km Interval Start Classic.
 
See below results summary
 
The next World Cup will take place in Tallinn, Estonia, with a city spring race on March 19.
 
Women's 20km Interval Start Classic
41st Phoebe Cridland
46th Rosie Fordham
 
Men's 20km Interval Start Classic
63rd Seve De Campo
66th Phillip Bellingham
68th Bentley Walker-Broose
74th Fedele De Campo
 
Women’s 10km Interval Start Free
45th Rosie Fordham
51st Phoebe Cridland
 
Men’s 10km Interval Start Free
68th Seve De Campo
69th Lars Young Vik
71st Phillip Bellingham
78th Bentley Walker-Broose

2022 Olympian has battled illness to finish in the top-10 in the monobob at the World Championships in Lake Placid, NY, USA, finishing in ninth place.
 
Competing in the four-run combined time major championship format over two days, the QAS bobsleigh pilot was 11th fastest  in run one, seventh in run two, 10th in run three and ninth in the final run to finish in a total time of 3:59.58.
 
The event winner 1.76 seconds ahead of Walker on her home track was Kaysha Love of the USA, Laura Nolte of Germany was second and another American, Elana Meyers-Taylor was third.
 
Walker still holds the track record for Lake Placid set 12 months ago, with no athletes able to improve on the time which saw changing weather conditions throughout the two days of competition.
 
A heartbroken Walker commented after the race.
 
“Certainly not the race I had prepared or planned for all season.
 
“I got extremely sick with a viral infection a day or so out from the race. I thought I would be able to still challenge for what I worked so hard for, but my starts were unfortunately so weak which left me on the back foot from the get-go!
 
“I gave it everything I had and that’s all I could do with the cards I was dealt! Heartbroken but it is what it is.”
 
Walker will now focus on the two-woman World Championship event in Lake Placid alongside brakewoman Kiara Reddingius on March 15 and 16.
 
Others in action in Lake Placid competing for Australia included Nicholas Timmings 20th in the men’s skeleton event and in the two-man bobsleigh, Rhys Peters and Benjamin Frost were 27th & Cam Scott and Patrick Castelli 28th.

It’s been a highly successful World championships for the Australian Cross Country Ski Team in Trondheim, Norway, where Australians skied to best ever individual and team result performances at the World Championship level.
 
Competing in front of fanatical Norwegian crowds of up to 100,000 spectators, the locals were ecstatic to witness hometown superstar Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo win an incredible six gold medals from six events.
 
Rosie Fordham claimed a 20th place finish in the women’s 50km Mass Start Free, the best ever finish in an individual distance. Fordham was also a member of the women’s Team Sprint alongside Ellen Soehol Lie finishing 15th, the first time an Australian team has made a championship final.
 
The women’s 4x7.5km relay team featuring Fordham, Soehol Lie, Tuva Bygrave and Phoebe Cridland placed 12th, the best World Championship relay result  for an Australian team.
 
In the men’s event, the individual highlight was Lars Young Vik finishing 33rd in the men’s sprint, just missing the finals (top 30) by 0.21 of a second. No Australian has ever made the Sprint finals at the World Championships.
 
The men's relay team also finished 20th in team sprint and the 4x7.5km relay.
 
Full results below.
 
7.5km Classic Women’s (Qualification Event)

• Phoebe Cridland 4th (top-10 needed to qualify for individual)

 
7.5km Classic Men’s (Qualification Event)

• Liam Burton 24th

 
Sprint Free Women’s

• Rosie Fordham 44th
• Phoebe Cridland 55th
• Ellen Soehol Lie 57th
• Tuva Bygrave 60th

 
Sprint Free Men’s

• Lars Young Vik 33rd
• Phillip Bellingham 63rd
• Bentley Walker-Broose 65th
• Fedele De Campo 102nd

 
20km Skiathlon Classic/Free Women’s

• Rosie Fordham 38th
• Ellen Soehol Lie DNF
• Tuva Bygrave 51st

 
20km Skiathlon Classic/Free Men’s

• Bentley Walker-Broose 79th
• Phillip Bellingham 87th
• Fedele De Campo 90th

 
10km Interval Start Classic Women’s

• Rosie Fordham 37th
• Phoebe Cridland 41st
• Ellen Soehol Lie 42nd
• Tuva Bygrave 44th

 
10km Interval Start Classic Men’s

• Seve De Campo 52nd
• Lars Young Vik 75th

• Bentley Walker-Broose 83rd
• Fedele De Campo 88th
• Liam Burton 122nd

 
Team Sprint Classic Women’s

• Australia (Rosie Fordham & Ellen Soehol Lie) 15th

 
Team Sprint Classic Men’s

• Australia (Lars Young Vik & Seve De Campo) 20th

 
4 x 4.75km Relay Classic/Free Women’s

• Australia (Tuva Bygrave, Ellen Soehol Lie, Rosie Fordham, Phoebe Cridland) 12th

 
4 x 4.75km Relay Classic/Free Men’s

• Australia (Seve De Campo, Lars Young Vik, Bentley Walker-Broose, Fedele De Campo) 20th

50km Mass Start Free Women’s

• Rosie Fordham 20th
• Tuva Bygrave 32nd

 
50km Mass Start Free Men’s

• Seve De Campo 50th
• Phillip Bellingham 60th
• Bentley Walker-Broose 65th
• Fedele De Campo 70th

Congratulations to the athletes, their coaches, and staff together with Snow Australia and everyone in the Australian cross country skiing community on these outstanding results and a most successful championships.

2022 Olympians Dean Hewitt (VIS) and Tahli Gill (QAS) have won their final event of a very successful European training and competition block, going undefeated to claim gold at the Hvidovre Mixed Doubles Cup in Denmark.
 
The pair won all of the opening group A matches, and remained undefeated in finals games, winning impressively in their three finals matches.
 
In the gold medal match they defeated Lander/Holtermann of Denmark 8 to 2.

Group A
Defeated Nyboe/Jurlander (DEN) 7 to 4
Defeated Wiksten/Wiksten (DEN) 6 to 5
Defeated Devaux/ Devaux (SUI) 9 to 2
Defeated Patel/Raju (IND) 9 to 0
 
Quarter Final
Defeated Jensen/Vilandt (DEN) 8 to 1
 
Semi Final
Defeated Schmidt/Qvist (DEN) 6 to 2
 
Final
Defeated Lander/Holtermann (DEN) 8 to 2
 
Hewitt reflected on a successful month in Europe.
“We’ve finished off the European leg of our season with a bang, winning the Hvidovre Mixed Doubles Cup in Denmark. Going through undefeated made it our sixth gold and eighth podium for the season. Overall, we’ve had a great European tour with 17 wins and just two losses along the way. “
“We’ve had a great time getting to experience the AIS European Training Centre in Italy while we’ve been over here. It’s been incredible to spend some time with other Aussie athletes with an atmosphere that made us feel right at home (Vegemite and Milo especially)! “
 
“We now head back to Canada for a big training block as we head into our last event before World Championships. More to come!”

IMAGE
Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt celebrate another tournament win in Denmark
© MSV-Foto