Our Team

My journey began in Mansfield, Victoria, where I was born and raised. Growing up in the high country, I have always had a passion for Skiing and fell in love with the sport from the first time I set foot on the snow. I ramped up my commitment to the sport In the 2014-15 northern winter as I set off on my first race season in Europe to pursue Ski Cross success.

My first season was a huge wake-up call to the brutal world of international competition. In my first Europa Cup, I came dead last (By quite a margin). After a tough season with lots of training, I secured a spot at the World Junior Championships, where I placed 20th and was one of the youngest athletes in the field. The following season, I was selected for the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, where I came 6th. It was a great experience where I made lifelong friends and learnt even more about competing under the spotlight.

In subsequent years I made it my focus to get to make my way to World Cup and become a competitive force on the World Cup circuit. My coaches and I began by addressing the weaknesses in my technical skiing, working tirelessly on drills and GS training to create a stable balanced style that would work for me. After a season of hard work, I could see the results coming, with more consistent qualification and better racing at Europa Cup level.

Towards the end of 2018 I made huge strides in my results and managed to bag a 15 th and a 3 rd securing myself a start in the 18/19 World Cup races. My first World Cup races were a real wakeup call to the brutality of World Cup. In my first nine races over 2 years I didn’t qualify for any finals, with my best result being a 53 rd at Feldberg in Germany. This was the harsh reality I had to face; I just wasn’t quick enough yet. Although, this last season after a Covid interrupted pre-season, I came back over to Europe with a fire in my belly and a point to prove. I started the season with a PB straight off the bat and collected a 25th in Arosa, Switzerland. This momentum flowed though the season with back-to- back 31 st in Idre Fjall and a 13 th to cap the season off in Reiteralm, Austria. I Followed the 13th up with a 4 th at the Europa Cup the week after. I am now excited to be in contention for a spot at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games  and continue to improve on the World Cup tour. My passion for finding a pathway in Australian snow sports is strong and I am so happy to join with ASCEND in a roll where I am able to use my experience to help mold the future talent coming from Australia and create the next generation of Aussie superstars.

My name is Alfie Wenk and I am a Europa Cup level Ski Cross athlete. I have lived in Adelaide almost my entire life, which makes travelling to the snow a bit more of a chore than your average Australian ski racer. 

My family spent the 2004 season in Dinner Plain, and me being too young for school at the time, I skied almost every day and got pretty good for a 5-year-old. It was in 2006 when my racing career started at the Falls Creek Race Club, where I have trained every year since. I was pretty much just a holiday program kid and mostly competed in interschools until 2015, when I trained for the season in Alpine and started competing at FIS events in both Ski Cross and Alpine.

I always had a love for Ski Cross even before I had done any formal training in the discipline, and knew that if I continued ski racing, I would eventually become a fully-fledged Ski Cross athlete. Then during the 2018/19 European season, I stopped paying for my Alpine racing license and officially made the switch to Ski Cross, and I haven’t looked back.

I grew up in the Snowy Mountains, where I discovered my love for snow at a very young age. When I was just three years old, I first clipped into a pair of skis, and the passion grew from there.

My introduction to ski racing started in primary school, representing my school in interschool events. For many years I would finish at the back of the pack and only compete for the satisfaction of supporting my team and my school and getting involved. 

At the age of 10, I decided I wanted to join Perisher Winter Sports Club and improve my skiing. Progress was slow and painful initially; however, I worked at it, and in year 7, I won my first race at regional level inter-schools. Not a massive deal in the grand scheme of things, but it sure made me realise that it feels good to come out on top after a lot of hard work. My winning streak had begun from that point, coming first in nearly every race I started, with my most significant achievement in my ‘very’ young career being a win at nationals. At this point, I had decided that skiing was something I wanted to take to the next level, so I moved my focus to Ski Cross as this was my most assertive discipline.

In 2018 I competed in my first Ski Cross ANC race in Falls Creek, Australia. I had never seen a course so scary; however, looking back on it, it would have been the most straightforward course I will ski on in my lifetime. That same year I competed in another Ski Cross ANC race in Hotham, where I was faced with yet another course that at the time was very intimidating to my lack of experience. Being around, so many high-level athletes was terrific, and it solidified the idea that I wanted to compete in Ski Cross at the highest level.

In 2019 I was in contention for a quota spot for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games. Unfortunately, I missed out by a hair, and it took a massive toll on my motivation. After some quality time to have a sook about the opportunity I missed out on and would never get again, I decided to keep moving forward and create more enormous opportunities for myself. That same year, I competed in my first international Ski Cross race. Easily the most Intimidating yet rewarding experience of my life, I ended up placing 4th racing against some of the girls I would have been racing against had I gone to the Youth Olympics. This made me realise that if I take a step back a look at the big picture, it was one race against people who I will spend the next ten years competing with at the highest level of competition.

My name is Liam Michael and I am an Australian Ski Cross Athlete. I grew up in Manly, Sydney where I was involved in a vast array of sports, one of which was skiing. I grew up freeskiing at Guthega on family ski holidays throughout my early childhood years. I was first introduced to ski racing through the interschools competitions in 2009 where I was able to place top 10 at the national championships. My passion for the sport only grew from there.

For the next few years I would join and be apart of Perisher Winter Sports Club and eventually Thredbo Ski Racing Club where I would compete in Ski Snowboard Australia sanctioned events. I moved to the USA to attend an elite Alpine Ski Racing Academy in Salt Lake Cit Utah at the age of 15 to continue my ski racing dreams of racing on the world cup representing my country one day. After building my Alpine Skills to a respectable level I was then in the right space to make the transition into Ski Cross. 

I unfortunately dislocated my shoulder and had to take on surgery during the 2019/2020 season. I decided to enrol in the University of Utah and major in Quantitative Analysis of Markets & Organizations while minoring in Advanced Financial Analysis. Due to the harsh demands of foreign universities, there was little time to compete in any ski cross racing over the 4 year degree period. I did manage to get to Europe during the Covid season where I was able to attend classes online. That was my first season in ski cross in Europe. I began with new equipment and getting my feet back and well behind the pack, however through hard work, and determination I was able to qualify for Europa Cup races and even placed in the top 10 at the Europa Cup level for the last race of that season. This result showed me I had the necessary skills and ability to compete at the highest level with the right training, equipment and structured program to build that pathway. I have now graduated University and am hellbent on doing everything I can to become the fastest ski cross racer possible. Thanks to Ascend I now have the training program and structure I need to facilitate my needs and get me closer to achieving my goals of becoming a successful World Cup Ski Cross Athlete

I started skiing as a 4-year-old with the aim of having family ski holidays. Following my older

brother, I started to take part in children alpine racing. I tagged along on race camps during

the holidays. At the age of 8 I started to enter some alpine races. My first taste of victory

was at Under 10’s when I won the GS at the English Alpine Championships. Unlike most

British ski racers I didn’t join an European based ski academy.

I was introduced to Ski cross as an Under 15 and entered a couple of Audi SX children’s

races and found I loved the head to head racing. I always liked the speed of racing and

continued to race alpine for another season, winning the U16 Super-G at the English Alpine

Championships.

In 2019 I switch my focus to SX with the Youth Olympics coming up in January 2020 I had an

outside chance of being selected. I committed to training with the GB squad for the summer

and entered my first FIS race in Mt Hotham in September 2019. To finish with two 11 places

was greater than I could have originally expected based on the field. After another few

camps I did enough to be selected to represent Team GB. I should have been pleased with

finishing 11th in Youth Olympic Games with only a handful of previous races however that’s

not how I felt. Only weeks later COVID hit and with no mountains in the UK I was unable to

train until after my A levels in the summer of 2021.

In the summer of 2021 I decided to give SX a go and train full time, so joined Evolve SX in

Canada. Early season started well and was asked to forerun the World Cup course in January

22 however a couple of crashes followed in the next couple of Norams and I headed home

for a month to recover. I returned To Europe at the start of March with the aim of being

competitive at the World Junior Championships at the end of the month. Training prior to

the World Junior Championships 22 went well and qualification went far better than

expected qualifying 2 nd fastest in Veysonnaz. However, when it came to racing it ended up

with me in the B netting and being helicoptered off to hospital with a dislocated hip, after a

number of MRI scans and consultations the outcome was positive no lasting damage just

time and hard work to rehab. It allowed me time to assess what would happen if my racing

career came to an end via a crash. I therefore decided to enrol on a part time distance

learning degree in Sport and exercise science and I have just completed my first year.

November 2022 went well so I went into the first NorAm races feeling I was in good shape

and qualified 1st in both qualifying runs proved to me I still had the speed and the crash at

WJC had not affected my ability to compete. However, I was unable to deal with the mental

pressure I now found myself under and finished 9 th in both races. I then headed to the World

University Games in January, I again qualified fastest and had now started to believe in

myself and I was better able to deal with the pressure and came away with Gold. However

just as quickly injury struck with a high speed crash in training. 6 Days of training before the

WJC23 in Passo San Pellegrino and a Big final result was better than I had set myself as a

goal unfortunately, finishing 4 th .

I grew up in Jönköping in the south of Sweden. My passion for skiing started at only two years old. And with supportive parents that also enjoyed skiing we decided to move. The move to Åre felt right for my whole family and we still live there today. By being closer and having access to the mountains helped me get more regular training on snow. I joined the local ski club and they had multiple evening practices a week. The difference from the ski racing in the south was that they trained speed. That was something I wasn’t used to and it was scary in the beginning. It took me a while to get the hang of it and I was soon introduced to jumps for the first time. 

During my last year of U16 alpine I needed to decide whether to continue with ski racing alpine or do something else. 2017 I switched to skicross and its best decision I’ve ever made. I have competed since the season 17/18 on the FIS and Europa cup tour, 2019 was I selected for the Junior World Championship. I ended the last season by winning the Swedish national championship.