Three-time Australian Olympian Alex Ferlazzo has launched his international season on the track set to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, finishing 20th in the official Olympic Test Event.
 
The Cortina track welcomed athletes for two separate training weeks in November, culminating in the Test Event over the weekend, which counts towards Olympic qualification.
 
Ferlazzo posted a time of 54.041 seconds in his opening run, ranking 20th for the round. In the final run, he improved slightly with the 19th fastest time of 54.113 seconds, bringing his combined two-run total to 1:48.154 and 20th place overall—1.79 seconds behind event winner Jonas Mueller of Austria. The podium was rounded out by Kristers Aparjods of Latvia in second and Austrian Wolfgang Kindl, third.
 
The 30-year-old QAS slider from Townsville commented after the race.
 
“Cortina has been a blast! Learning a new track is always fun. Racing was difficult, there’s still a lot of work to do with the equipment side of things.”
 
“The North American races are home races now. It’s important for me now to get back to a familiar track and work on the basics and set up the sled for the rest of the season leading to the games.”
 
The opening World Cup of the season is next weekend in Winterberg, Germany. However, as the event does not count toward Olympic qualification, Ferlazzo has opted to travel to North America early, in preparation for the upcoming World Cup competitions in Park City and Lake Placid, USA.

QAS bobsleigh pilot Bree Walker came agonizingly close to back-to-back podium finishes to start the season, overcoming a lower back injury to secure fourth place at the IBSF World Cup on the Igls track in Innsbruck, Austria.

Walker opened the event in spectacular fashion, posting the fastest time of the first run with 56.01 seconds. However, during the initial push, she sustained a back injury that hampered her performance in the second heat. Despite her best efforts, Walker recorded the 11th fastest time of the round (56.34 seconds), bringing her two-run total to 1:52.35—just 0.02 seconds shy of third place.
 
Victory went to American Kaysha Love, finishing 0.33 seconds ahead of Walker, with Germany’s Laura Nolte in second and Lisa Buckwitz in third.
 
“I was very proud of the first run push and drive,” said the 2022 Olympian from Queensland.

“In the second heat I unfortunately hurt my lower back in the first push, so I couldn’t quite push to the intensity I wanted. This track is a push track, so if you don’t have a strong start, there’s not much you can do to make up for it.

“I’m happy to walk away with fourth considering the situation, and I’m taking away the positives—the first heat was very positive.”
 
In the two-woman event, Walker was joined by brakewoman Kiara Reddingius, but Walker was still impacted by the injury from the previous days which limited the push at the start and the pair finished in 18th place.
 
The next World Cup event is in Lillehammer, Norway, on December 13-14, the site of Walker’s double gold World Cup victories last season.

2022 Olympians Tahli Gill (QAS) and Dean Hewitt (VIS) have delivered an outstanding performance at the Aly Jenkins Memorial Mixed Doubles event, finishing second overall at the Martensville Curling Club in Saskatoon, Canada.
 
The tournament featured 18 teams from eight nations, with Gill and Hewitt dominating Pool A in the group stage, posting a perfect 4–0 record:
 
Group Stage Results

• Defeated Lamontagne/Lamontage (CAN) 8 to 2
• Defeated Lang/Lang (CAN) 11 to 3
• Defeated Kim/Jeong (KOR) 11 to 4
• Defeated Ye/Yu (CHN) 9 to 1

 
In the quarter-final, the Australians edged past Kim/Jeong (KOR) in a nail-biting contest, 8–7, before advancing to the final with a 6–1 semi-final win over Ye/Yu (CHN).
 
The gold medal match against Perret/Rios (SUI) came down to the wire, with Gill and Hewitt narrowly falling 5–4 after the last end, securing a silver medal finish.
 
Next up for the pair is the Madtown Double Down event in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, from December 4–7.

 

The European leg of the ISU Short Track World Tour kicked off over the weekend in Gdańsk, Poland, where 2022 Olympian Brendan Corey delivered standout performances across all three distances.
 
VIS supported Corey advanced to the B-Final in the 1500m, finishing 10th overall, his second B-Final appearance of the season in that distance. In the 1000m, Corey reached the quarter-finals, placing 11th, and recorded a season-best 22nd in the 500m.
 
Also representing Australia were Lucas Wareham and Hyo Jin Kim, with Kim achieving a season-best 22nd in the 1000m.
 
After three World Tour events, Corey sits 13th in the 1500m rankings, 14th in the 1000m, and 16th overall on the World Cup standings.
 
The final stop of the World Cup season and the last Olympic qualification event will take place in Dordrecht, Netherlands, from November 20–23.

Australian bobsleigh star Bree Walker has kicked off the 2025–2026 IBSF World Cup season in style, securing a bronze medal on the newly rebuilt Olympic track in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, the venue for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
 
The medal performance is the 13th career World Cup podium for QAS bobsleigh pilot Walker, giving the 2022 Olympian great confidence ahead of February’s Olympic showdown.
 
The historic Cortina track, which staged the 1956 Olympics, last welcomed a World Cup in 2008. For years, uncertainty surrounded its future, but a rapid redevelopment, finished in just 300 days, has brought the venue back to life just in time for an official International Training Period in mid-November and opening World Cup of the season.
 
Walker opened the competition with a strong first run of 59.85 seconds, placing fifth in a tightly packed field where the top six athletes were separated by just 0.17 seconds. In the decisive second heat, Walker delivered under pressure with the second-fastest time of the final run (59.78), bringing her a two-run combined time of 1:59.63.
 
The battle for silver came down to mere fractions, with Walker finishing 0.01 seconds behind Kaysha Love of the USA. Germany’s Laura Nolte claimed gold, edging Walker by 0.16 seconds.
 
“My coach always says any day I finish on the podium is a good day, so very happy to finish third here for the first race of the season” said the 33-year-old from Queensland.
 
“I love the track here in Cortina, it’s really fun, a few technical corners especially at the top, and then it has a lovely flow down to the bottom, I am really enjoying driving here.
 
“My runs weren’t perfect, I am excited to come back here in February and be able to fix them up and see what happens on the other side.
 
Also in action for Australia was fellow QAS bobsleigh pilot Sarah Blizzard in 23rd place.

In the two-woman event, Walker was joined by another QAS scholar, brakewoman Kiara Reddingius, with the duo finishing in 18th place.
 
Sarah Blizzard was joined by brakewoman Desi Johnson in her World Cup debut, to register 23rd in the two woman sled.
 
The IBSF World Cup tour now moves to Innsbruck, Austria, where the monobob competition is scheduled for November 29, followed by the two-woman event on November 30.

Australian bobsleigh star Bree Walker has completed a ten-day training block on the newly rebuilt Eugenio Monti Sliding Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, the venue for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games sliding events.
 
The historic Cortina track, which staged the 1956 Olympics, last welcomed a World Cup in 2008. For years, uncertainty surrounded its future, but a rapid redevelopment, finished in just 300 days, has brought the venue back to life. Recently homologated by the IBSF and FIL, the track opened for the first time for official Bobsleigh and Skeleton sliding during the International Training Period (ITP) from 7–16 November.
 
Athletes had their first runs on the 1,730-metre course, featuring 16 curves and speeds exceeding 140 km/h. Its technical upper section, flowing rhythm have already drawn praise from competitors.
 
“It’s been super special,” Walker said. “We originally thought that we weren’t going to have a track here in Cortina, so being here these past two weeks has been really exciting for many reasons.”
 
“I love learning new tracks from scratch. It’s such a challenge in the beginning, but when you start to get it, it’s really rewarding.”
 
“The track is really fun! It has a great flow to it. It’s not tricky to get down, but it’s still going to be good fun racing.”
 
“Our preparation is going well. We have worked really hard to learn the track as best as we can for now and I think we have done a great job considering it’s just my coach Pierre and I. So we go into this World Cup week feeling good and ready.”
 
The IBSF World Cup opener returns to Cortina this weekend for the first time in 17 years. Walker will line up in:

• Women’s Monobob on 22 November.
• Two-Woman Bobsleigh with brakewoman Kiara Reddingius on 23 November.

Sarah Blizzard also took part in the ITP, and will compete in both World Cup events in Cortina, teaming up with either Desi Johnson or Ashleigh Werner as her brakewoman for the two-woman.
 
This event marks the start of the final two months of Olympic qualification, which concludes on January 18, 2026.

2022 Australian Olympians Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt wrapped up a successful European competition block with a second-place finish at the Geneva Mixed Doubles Invitational, held from October 28–30.

The event featured a four-team round-robin format, with Gill and Hewitt facing off twice against elite pairs from Great Britain, Estonia, and Switzerland. The Australians delivered a strong performance, finishing with a 3–3 record, securing second place behind the undefeated British duo of Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds, the 2025 World Championship silver medallists.

Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill placed third, while Switzerland’s Briar and Yannick Schwaller rounded out the standings in fourth.

Match Results – Gill & Hewitt

• Draw 1 – Lost to Dodds/Mouat (GBR) 6–5
• Draw 2 – Defeated Kaldvee/Lill (EST) 8–7
• Draw 3 – Lost to Schwaller/Schwaller (SUI) 7–6
• Draw 4 – Lost to Dodds/Mouat (GBR) 6–5
• Draw 5 – Defeated Kaldvee/Lill (EST) 11–4
• Draw 6 – Defeated Schwaller/Schwaller (SUI) 10–5

This silver medal performance caps off a highly successful October campaign for Gill and Hewitt in Switzerland, where they also claimed two gold medals at earlier events. 

Their consistent podium results reinforce their status as one of the world’s top mixed doubles teams as they build momentum toward the final Olympic Qualification Event (OQE), which will determine the last two spots for the Milano-Cortina Games, taking place in Kelowna, Canada, from December 13 to 18.