Cross-country skier Will Neuhaus and skipping champion Thomas Davies named the Mosman Daily’s Junior Sports Stars

TWO teenagers with a passion for speed and unconventional sports have taken out the Mosman Daily’s Junior Sports Star awards.

Junior Sport Star Awards Night

TWO teenagers with a passion for speed and unconventional sports have take out the Mosman Daily’s Junior Sports Star awards.

Cross-country skier Will Neuhaus was named this year’s Junior Sports Star at last night’s gala presentation at Bicentennial Park, while champion skipper Thomas Davies was crowned the paper’s Young Achiever.

Will is one of only about 50 people in the country who compete in biathlon, a winter sport combining cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

“You ski about 3km of cross country terrain and then have to stop and shoot five targets, which are about the size of a 50c piece and 50m away,” Will said.

“It’s really tough. The most challenging part for me is going uphill and not dying of exhaustion.”

The Kirribilli youngster is in Altenburg, Germany, for the German Nation Cup so was unable to receive his award last night.

His father Ian accepted on his behalf.

Marist College student Will Neuhaus, 15, is this year’s Mosman Daily Junior Sports Star.

Will is a biathlon champion.

“It’s very emotional, I wasn’t expecting him to win,” Ian said at the event.

Will, 15, has been skiing since he was only two and has won titles all over the world, including in New Zealand and Canada.

“I love that it’s different and I like being part of a sport that not many people know about,” he said.

He is also the Australian rollerski champion and the state U-16 freestyle cross country champion.

At just 13, Thomas is keen on anything that gets the adrenalin pumping and his feet moving quickly.

This is the second time he has won the Young Achiever award, an achievement he said he felt “pretty good, very happy with that” about last night.

Thomas Davies is a star runner and skipper - and has been named our Junio Sports Star Young Achiever.

The Sydney Grammar student is the Mosman Little Athletics age champion and won silver in the 3000m event at the club’s state championships last year, setting a new club record of 10 min, 9 sec.

He has also had success in the 800m and 1500m events, and represented the state at last year’s National Cross Country Championships.

“I just really enjoy that feeling of flying through the air when I’m running, no matter which event I’m competing in,” he said.

But it’s not just on tracks and trails that Thomas excels — he is also a gold medal-winning skipper.

He represented Australia at the World Skipping Championships in Hong Kong last year and brought a bag of gold home from the Australian National Championships.

“It’s a fast-moving sport and I really like those for some reason,” he said.

“I also love skipping because of the endurance.”

Thomas, 13, is going to concentrate on running this year.

Despite his passion for skipping, Thomas told the Daily last night he had decided to make running his priority.

“I’m moving away from skipping and am running more now,” he said.

“The first time I started to run was after one of my cross-countries when I was younger and I was pretty good at it and I enjoyed it as well.”

Celebrating its tenth year, the Junior Sport Star Awards, sponsored by Rebel, highlight performances by future stars aged from 10 to 16.

The gala presentation was attended by Sports Minister Stuart Ayres and Shadow Sports Minister Guy Zangari and supported by Channel Seven

NewsLocal’s editor-in-chief Kathy Lipari said she was, as always, incredibly impressed by the young nominees’ achievements.

“Every year I am blown away by the standard and this year is no different,” she said.