Male skiers go to court claiming they deserve to go to Olympics more than women

THE relationship between Australia's top male and female skiers is rapidly going downhill, only 12 days before the start of the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Mike Rishworth.

THE relationship between Australia's top male and female skiers is rapidly going downhill, only 12 days before the start of the Sochi Winter Olympics.

An appeal has been lodged in the Court of Arbitration for Sport by two men who missed out on spots in the alpine skiing team in favour of two women.

Slalom skiers Luke Laidlaw and Mike Rishworth, both from Melbourne, have appealed against their omission from team nominations.

It is understood they will claim Ski and Snowboard Australia did not apply the nomination criteria correctly when it named slalom skiers Lavinia Chrystal and Emily Bamford, the daughter of horse racing tycoon Kevin Bamford.

Luke Laidlaw (above) and Mike Rishworth (below) have appealed against their omissions from the Winter Olympics team.

Mike Rishworth.

The SSA's allocation of quota spots by gender, rather than ranking alone, have left the men claiming they were more worthy candidates.

SSA chief executive Michael Kennedy said it was "very confident and comfortable" the nomination criteria was correctly applied, saying the SSA had been clear that gender was used in the allocation of quotas, as determined by the International Ski Federation.

A document seen by the Sunday Herald Sun details the SSA's rationale, alleging the guidelines clearly state the team should be picked according to a points system that includes gender quotas.

"The nomination criteria does not provide for the nomination of athletes across genders, but rather within each gender the highest male and highest female athletes will be nominated," the document states.

Emily Bamford.

"SSA interprets the quota allocation formulae to be 'gender specific'."

Athletes accumulate points on the world circuit throughout the year and this is part of the process used to decide who will compete in Sochi next month. The proposed nominations were published on the SSA website.

Mike Tancred, Australian Olympic Committee media and communications director, said the SSA nominated the athletes for the team.

It was up to the AOC to then select the team. Selection for the two spots was not made on Thursday, as planned, due to the appeal.

All parties, or their representatives, either declined

to comment or return calls. The case will be heard in Melbourne on Tuesday before Malcolm Holmes, QC.