Darcie Morton successfully defended her 2017 title of Australian Junior XC Champion this weekend at the Perisher Nordic Trails. Morton, who is also Australia’s top ranking female biathlete, won both her Freestyle Sprint and Distance Classic races at the 2018 Australian Junior XC titles to secure the title of best Australian Junior XC skier for her 2^nd consecutive year.

Morton who had actually been recovering from a cold over the last week and so spent most of the lead-up to the weekend’s races resting in an attempt to be healthy and recovered enough to race said “Because my health still wasn’t 100%, my races didn’t feel all that great, but I still skied as fast as I could and just put up with the coughing after the race!”

"At the end of the day, even though the races didn’t feel that great, I was still really happy with my results”.

Morton joins NSW Biathlon coach Lucy Glanville as a multiple winner of the best Australian female Junior XC Skier trophy, with Glanville winning the title 3 times during her years as a junior XC skier.

Morton will now contest the Australian Biathlon National Championships in 3 weeks time.