The 2026 Australian Rollerski Championship were held in Jindabyne from April 11-12, 2026, marking a key event in the Australian Cross Country (AUSXC) calendar, featuring sprint and distance, as well as the AUSXC Awards.

The championship generally includes FIS-categorized races and junior/masters events, typically supplying Swix rollerskis for top-tier competitors.

Snow Australia’s, Finn Marsland, has been running the National Rollerski Championships in Canberra for the past 12 years. This year,the race was hosted in Jindabyne for the first time at the new track at the Jindabyne Sports and Recreation Centre.

With around 55 athletes traveling to Jindabyne from across NSW, ACT and Victoria including the events first para-athlete, Alex Hale, to partake in Saturday’s sprint and distance event which ultimately saw Cooma’s Bentley Walker-Broose take the gold to win in men’s open.

Marsland said the new track has been a great addition for the sport as it allows an opportunity for athletes to have a safe space to train during the off season.

“It’s going to be great for local athletes to be able to train and not be on roads with cars flying past them making for a pretty unsafe atmosphere for athletes training,” Marsland said.

“It is a great facility for the athletes to train from juniors through to elite and masters.”

Marsland said the weekend event had athletes attend who have only been roller skiing for the first time that as well as athletes who have raced in the World Cup.

“We’ve got a full spectrum of ability and we’ve got the different classes under 12, under 16, under 20, open, and masters categories so, it’s a range of age groups and abilities all racing together on the same weekend,” Marsland said.

“The sprint event, the athletes competed in the qualification first, then they seeded into head-to-head rounds. Then the athletes in an age class, competed in quarterfinals, semi-finals, and then the final.

“The first two of their heat would then go through to the next round, and the finals included people coming from the different semis. Then the fastest three in the last race would race to see who takes the winning spot.”

In sprints, Bentley Walker-Broose won the gold followed by Nick Blackwell with silver and Vincent Desousa taking the bronze.

In the women under 18s and opens event, Jindabyne athlete Satara Moon took the gold podium position.

Samuel Johnson, an athlete on the junior national team for cross country skiing and the national team for Biathlon said at the event he got some good racing in especially considering it was the first time on the new track.

Hoping the track would provide him with ski-like racing, Johnson was looking forward to swapping the Canberra Stromlo, Criterion Circuit, for the new Jindabyne track and hoping to land a podium position ahead of the approaching snow season.

“Once the snow season is upon us, I have the national championships coming up for both Biathlon and cross country, and then also the Hoppet in Falls Creek, which is our biggest ski race in Australia, so I need to get as much training in as possible before these events start,” Johnson said.

“ I will then be heading back overseas next year where it will be my 4th year competing internationally, and I’m looking to compete in the Biathlon, junior World Cup, or junior cup circuit, and junior world championships, and then junior world championships for cross country skiing as well so I must keep training hard.

“The new facility is just amazing for us athletes, having something that has a proper hill climate as well as technical downhills will be a fantastic for year-round athlete use for training.”

Winning gold with a final finish time of 22:01.076 in the 2026 Aus Rollerski Championships Criterium round, Walker-Broose was proud of his efforts and achievements for the beginning of his training year.

“For us athletes, this is time of year is the start to our training year, where people are on roller skis and they can get together and test fitness and see how their shape is and then work on things from there, it is a good chance for everyone to get together and see who’s the biggest competition and to push themselves hard,” Walker-Broose said.

“We had a good mix of people who have just come back from overseas and some people that have been on break for a while, so this event has meant we have had the opportunity to come back together and have a bit of fun.

“Majority of the athletes competing all new each other as we are a pretty tight-knit community, it also gave the older athletes the opportunity to talk with the younger athletes and give advice so hopefully they continue in the sport.”

Having competed in the annual championships for most of his sporting career Walker-Broose, set his sights on a podium position.

He hoped to take the overall win against his fellow athletes and managed to pull it off.

He said he is currently in the best shape he’s been in and ready to take on the winter month’s competitions.

“I’ve had some World Cup PBs, and some other really good results come from my last season,” he said.

“I’m generally pretty happy with how it all went.

“Now it’s time to strap the ski’s back on and get training again and I’ll continue to try harder and keep getting better.”