Wahroonga’s Jill Colebourn qualifies for Biathlon World Cup

Australia’s top female biathlete, Jill Colebourn of Wahroonga, has accomplished something not seen in the sport for more than 30 years.

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Australia’s top female biathlete Jill Colebourn, 23, has continued to impress after qualifying for the 2019-20 Biathlon World Cup.

The Wahroonga resident’s achievement marks the best performance by an Australian female biathlete in 30 years.

“It feels absolutely amazing and more importantly, immensely satisfying to have achieved world cup qualification,” Colebourn said.

Jill Colebourn is Australia’s top female biathlete.

“It has always been my dream since I was a child to compete for Australia at the highest level of international competition and to finally be at that stage feels almost unreal.

“Dreams and goals that I set for myself years and years ago have now been achieved or are just at my fingertips, and it’s incredible to know that all the sacrifices - hours of hard work and rigorous training - was worth it.”

Colebourn says qualifying for the world cup is “almost surreal.”

Colebourn’s world cup qualification follows a string of European season success that included an invitation to compete at next month’s world championships in Sweden.

She said she was planning to use the world cup circuit as preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

“I intend to focus on the European championships and world championships for the remainder of this winter season and make my world cup debut after another year of training and preparation,” Colebourn said.

She plans on using the world cup circuit to build experience ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

“I’m sure that my first season on the world cup circuit will be a bit of a shock, dealing with the pressure of high expectations and the distractions by the thousands of spectators.

“Competing at the highest level of competitions is a significant step to prepare myself mentally and physically (for) the 2022 Olympics.”