By JARROD POTTER
HOW does a Garfield dairy farmer’s son – with a gymnastics background – become one of Australia’s next great aerial skiing prospects?
It’s a strange sporting pathway that Lachlan Fitzgerald, 19, is undertaking in a sport he’s really only cared about for a year – since he was tapped on the shoulder to give the winter sport a shot.
Despite the rapid progression onto skis, Fitzgerald has savoured his unique chance at becoming an international winter sports athlete.
It all started for Fitzgerald as he rose through gymnastics all the way to the peak of the national standard as he was chosen to train at the Victorian High Performance Centre.
After a couple of years away from the competitive aspects of gymnastics, Fitzgerald gave last year’s national and state titles a red-hot go as a finale… but found a different prize waiting for him by campaign’s end.
“I was doing gymnastics since I was eight and a half – just over 10 years,” Fitzgerald said.
“Was probably year 10… I was going really well but then I started getting injuries – my wrists were starting to give out – and my gymnastics career was starting to go downhill.
“After two years away from competition – just training and not competing – at last year’s comp season I thought it would be my last season and seeing the way things were going, and I went out and did the best I’ve ever done.”
Competing at Level-10 Senior ranking – gymnastics’ highest standard – Fitzgerald won medals in the all-around category before being approached to sign up to the Australian Institute of Sport’s ‘Spin to Win’ project.
The project – spearheaded by the AIS and Gymnastics Australia – acts as talent identification and specifically a transfer mechanism to get high level gymnasts competing in other spots and improving Australia’s all-round sporting potential.
“I came third at nationals in the Australian championships all-around and at the Victorian Championships came first at the same level,” Fitzgerald said.
“Didn’t know what I was going to do after that, but they came to me and said they were starting up an aerial ski program and were only taking a select few.
“I had no idea about the sport to be honest as it was something I’ve never looked into – I thought gymnastics was what I was going to be doing.”
From a field of 30 prospective athletes, Fitzgerald is one of two men who asked to join the Flying Kangaroos Aerial Skiing Team and he has already been fast-tracked into the sport.
He returned from a two-month training camp in Utah, USA earlier this year and is preparing for the peak of Australian snow season to get back onto the mountain.
“We basically went straight into it,” Fitzgerald said.
“Headed to Buller for snow season then they flew us over to America in Utah – north America – and skied over there for two months.
“I’d never skied before but picked it up quickly.
“It’s been crazy, but I love it already – it’s such a thrill.”
It’s a slow and steady process to get him acclimated to skis instead of high beams, and his favourite discipline – the pommel horse – but Fitzgerald has his eyes on the heights of the sport. He’s aiming for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeong Chang, South Korea and has three years to step up his abilities to become an Olympian.
Fitzgerald wanted to thank his family and his employer F & J Attards and Sons Pty Ltd for their unwavering support.
If anyone would like to sponsor Lachlan, he can be contacted on 0425 630 285.
