Youth Olympic Preparation

Baxter Pollard has had his last day of skiing and shooting at the Auburn Ski Club near Truckee, California in preparation for his flight to Gangwon, Korea for the forthcoming Youth Olympic Games. Auburn Ski club is at 2200 Metres and offers a small 12 stand range similar to his NZ range.  He and his family were made very welcome and were able to train with members of the USA youth and junior squads who are based in that area.  They also had additional skiing at Tahoe Donner run by Sally Jones who was the TD for this year's Merino Muster in NZ.

The Auburn tracks have some brutal hill climbs and some downhill that I think are scary but Baxter took toothem like a duck to water.  His Dad says he had no problems of adjusting to the altitude which shows the benefit of youth.

They have been following the programme designed by Baxter's coach Jason Sklenar (UK Biathlon Olympian and part of the Snowsports high performance coaching team).  Contact with Jason has been constant with all the electronic wizardry now available. Baxter is leaving San Francisco airport on the 15th Jan with Mum Delwyn Moller in support for S. Korea and his NZOC Youth Olympic teammates.  Having a fellow Biathlon Club member doing what Campbell is doing is a bit daunting but Baxter now knows from his brief European exposure what he has to steady the nerves for.

The support from Sally Jones and the Auburn Ski Club has really helped Baxter's preparation and for his parents this is a journey they are unexpectedly exposed to.  

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BNZ wish Baxter, his family and his coach Jason all the best for the coming trip.

Learn more about Gangwon 2024 from the NZOC website below:

https://www.olympic.org.nz/games/gangwon-2024/