Winter sports Achievements
2008/09
The 2008/09 season continued Australia’s success story in winter sports.
With Dale Begg-Smith missing a large part of the season through injury it was always going to be hard to match our medal tally and medal spread from 2007/08.
But we had plenty to celebrate – Lydia Lassila’s breakthrough World Cup aerial skiing title, team-mate Jacqui Cooper’s World Championship bronze medal, Tatiana Borodulina’s two World Cup victories (the first ever by an Australian short track skater), Damon Hayler’s maiden snowboard cross World Cup victory, Nate Johnstone’s effort in finishing the snowboard halfpipe World Cup season at number two on the rankings and Holly Crawford’s halfpipe silver medal at the snowboard World Championships.
In all, AIS/OWI athletes collected 15 medals - five of them gold - while for the second year in a row we had seven different athletes on the podium, this time across five different disciplines.
Lassila sealed her title victory with a bronze medal in the final event of the season in Moscow, to take her season tally to two gold and two bronze, while Cooper became the first Australian winter sports athlete to win three World Championship medals.
In skeleton, Emma Lincoln-Smith slid to Australia’s best World Championship result in any ice sport – fifth in Lake Placid, while in the freestyle discipline of ski cross, Jenny Owens added to the medal tally with silver in Lake Placid, her third podium place in two seasons.
The past snowboard season was arguably the best in our history, with three athletes on the podium – Hayler, Crawford and Johnstone – for one gold medal and three bronze.
But they were not the only riders up near the top of the snowboard result sheets.
Alex Pullin finished one place off the podium on two occasions in snowboard cross, and alpine snowboard rider Joh Shaw ended her season at number ten in the world, also with two fourth placings.
2008
The 2008 season has been one of the best in Australia’s winter sports history.
While it is true that the total number of World Cup medals won by our athletes - 21 – fell short of the record of 23 set in 2003/04 and 2006/07, there were other reasons to be just as excited by the season as there were on those previous occasions.
The highlights of the year, of course, were the record-breaking fifth World Cup aerial skiing title achieved by Jacqui Cooper and the record-equalling third consecutive mogul skiing title collected by Dale Begg-Smith.
The 23 medals that Australia won in 2003/04 came from four athletes and just two disciplines. The same 2006/07 tally was amassed by six athletes across five disciplines, a growth in the depth of winter sports that was a strong endorsement of OWI programs.
The 2007/08 tally of 21 medals has built on the previous year, with eight athletes contributing from seven disciplines.
2007
The 2006-2007 season will be remembered as one of Australia’s most successful years on record, with a total of 23 medals won by Australian athletes in World Cup and World Championship competition. This mark has only been equalled once before, when Australia won 23 medals during the 2003-2004 season.
Dale Begg-Smith continued to dominate the sport of mogul skiing, winning a gold and silver medal at the 2007 World Championships. Dale was also crowned the World Cup Mogul Champion, after winning seven World Cup medals, including six victories.
Jacqui Cooper also had a strong season, winning bronze at the World Championships, and the overall World Cup Aerial title, after finishing on the podium four times including three wins.
Australia achieved its first ever skeleton World Cup medal when Michelle Steele won bronze in Nagano, Japan.
Halfpipe snowboarder Holly Crawford also established herself as one of the world's leading athletes, taking the first World Cup victory of her career and winning five more World Cup medals. Holly finished the season ranked number two on the World Cup standings.
2006
In total, 24 of our winter sports scholarship athletes were selected to the Olympic Winter Team, with every member of the Aerial Skiing, Mogul Skiing, Snowboard Halfpipe, Alpine Skiing and Figure Skating programs gaining a berth in the Torino team. Maximum participation under Olympic rules was also achieved in Men’s Mogul Skiing, Women’s Aerial Skiing and Men’s Short Track Speed Skating.
For the second Olympic Winter Games in a row, Australia captured two medals. The highlight came in Mogul Skiing, Dale Begg-Smith winning Torino gold to become the first Australian man to stand on top of an Olympic skiing podium. Begg-Smith also won the World Cup title after recording six victories and two other podium placings. In another breakthrough, OWI mogul skiers achieved our first double podium result, through Begg-Smith (gold) and Michael Robertson (bronze) in Oberstdorf, Germany.
In an injury-plagued year for the aerial skiing program, Alisa Camplin produced a remarkable comeback to win bronze at the Torino Olympic Winter Games. Lydia Ierodiaconou also returned from injury to win a World Cup event in the lead-up to the Games. Jacqui Cooper set a new world record points score in the Torino qualifying event, and followed the Games with her first World Cup win since prior to the 2002 Olympics.
Holly Crawford became the second OWI scholarship holder to win a snowboard halfpipe medal, and Damon Hayler the third rider to make a snowboard cross podium.
In all, our athletes collected 15 podium placings for the year, the second best return in the history of the Institute.
2005
Four athletes climbed onto World Cup podiums for a total of 14 medals. In Aerial Skiing, Lydia Ierodiaconou (three gold and four other podium placings) and Jacqui Cooper (one silver) were successful, with Ierodiaconou ending the season at number two in the world for the third consecutive year.
In Mogul Skiing, an Australian reached the world number two ranking for the first time, Dale Begg-Smith collecting the first four podiums of his career.
2004
The aerial skiing program had its best season on record with Australia finishing on the podium at all 11 events of the circuit. Alisa Camplin defended her World Cup title, winning a record seven events along the way. Lydia Ierodiaconou collected two victories and five other medals to end the season as the world number two for the second year in a row.
The figure skating program changed structure during the year, with eight athletes awarded individual scholarships to assist with their Olympic preparation.
2003
2003 saw the inclusion of Halfpipe Snowboard as an OWI Program.
The highlight of the year was Alisa Camplin winning the 2003 Aerial Skiing World Championship and also finishing first on the World Cup standings. Alisa held all major titles (Olympic, World Championship, World Cup), becoming only the second women in history to do so.
Team-mate Lydia Ierodiaconou finished the World Cup season in second place, a great achievement in only her second season. In total, 10 medals were won by the Aerial Skiing Program, including four gold, giving Australia its first Women's Aerials Nation's Cup title.
Michael Robertson had a very impressive debut season in Mogul Skiing with two top ten performances.
2002
In 2002, 17 OWI athletes and nine OWI coaches and officials were selected to the Olympic Winter Games Team, providing the backbone of Australia's most successful participation at a Winter Games.
History was created, with Australia winning its first gold medals in 66 years of competing at the Winter Games, with gold coming in Aerial Skiing (Alisa Camplin) and Short Track Speed Skating (Steven Bradbury). In total, six top ten results were achieved by OWI athletes.
A number of medals were also won during the World Cup season in Aerials (Jacqui Cooper x 3, Alisa Camplin x 1, and Snowboard (Zeke Steggall x 2). Figure Skater Anthony Liu also produced Australia's best ever figure skating result at an Olympic Games.
2001
The OWI highlight in 2001 came in the mogul skiing program, with Maria Despas winning the country's first moguls world championship medal. Maria claimed the silver medal behind Norwegian star Kari Traa.
The year also saw the aerials skiing team produce seven World Cup medals (Jacqui Cooper x 6, Alisa Camplin x 1) and the snowboard team collect two medals in World Cup events (Zeke Steggall and John Fletcher one each).
Seven athletes across four programs met the selection criteria for the 2002 Winter Olympic Team.
The organisation also expanded its Short Track Speed Skating program to send a team to every World Cup event in preparation for the international Olympic qualification competition in October 2001.
2000
In the second year of the OWI, 2000, the programs grew to include short track speed skating, figure skating and alpine snowboarding.
Outstanding performances were:
World Cup Aerial Skiing Champion (Jacqui Cooper)
Seven individual World Cup medals (Jacqui Cooper, Zeke Steggall, John Fletcher and Alisa Camplin).
1999
During the first year of operation in 1999, the OWI sport programs in aerial skiing, alpine skiing and mogul skiing produced amazing results, which included:
Two World Champions (Jacqui Cooper - Aerial Skiing World Champion and Zali Steggall - Alpine Slalom World Champion)
World Championship bronze medal (Zeke Steggall - Snowboard Cross)
Overall Freestyle World Cup title (Jacqui Cooper)
Five individual World Cup medals (3 gold, 1 silver to Jacqui Cooper and 1 silver to Zali Steggall).
