The Australia Summer Biathlon Championships are a special event in the middle of the summer. First of all we get to see the gorgeous Australian aqua blue kits. But more importantly we get to see biathlon on snow! In the summer! It’s really a breath of fresh cool air while so many of us are in the sweltering heat.
This year the Australian Summer Biathlon Championships took place over two weekends at the gorgeous Mt Hotham venue in Victoria. The weather looked superb for these competitions!
Important notes:
1) As part of the cooperation between the Finnish and Australian Biathlon associations this summer former Finnish biathlete and current Finnish U19 coach Nastassia Kinnunen has been working with the Australian athletes which is very cool!
2) Two of the more “notable” Australian athletes Darcie and Damika Morton did not compete at this summer’s championships. They are currently training in Europe and it was too expensive to transport themselves and all of their equipment back to Australia in the middle of the summer.
3) These competitions included athletes of all ages. For the most part we’re looking at the senior athletes except for a couple of exceptions you’ll see below.
Isabella Moon competing in the Sprint at the 2025 Australian Summer National Championship races held at Whiskey Flat Mt Hotham, Victoria
Photo by Chris Hocking © 2025 Biathlon Australia
Saturday July 19: Sprint
| Women’s Podium | Men’s Podium |
| 🥇 Isabella Moon | 🥇 Noah Bradford |
| 🥈 Katerina Paul | 🥈 Ian Franzke |
| Julia Smusz DNS | 🥉 Thomas Kinnear |
Sunday July 20: Short Individual
| Women’s Podium | Men’s Podium |
| 🥇 Isabella Moon | 🥇 Noah Bradford |
| 🥈 Katerina Paul | 🥈 Ian Franzke |
| Julia Smusz DNS | 🥉 Thomas Kinnear |
Saturday August 9: Sprint
| Women’s Podium | Men’s Podium |
| 🥇 Katerina Paul | 🥇 Noah Bradford |
| 🥈 Julia Smusz | 🥈 Ian Franzke |
| Isabella Moon DNS | 🥉 Thomas Kinnear |
Sunday August 10: Mass Start
| Women’s Podium | Men’s Podium |
| 🥇 Katerina Paul | 🥇 Noah Bradford |
| 🥈 Julia Smusz | 🥈 Ian Franzke |
| Isabella Moon DNS | 🥉 Thomas Kinnear |
Noah Bradford competing in the Sprint at the 2025 Australian Summer National Championship races held at Whiskey Flat Mt Hotham, Victoria
Photo by Chris Hocking © 2025 Biathlon Australia
On the men’s side Noah Bradford swept the titles. You may recognize the name as he’s been racing consistently on the IBU Cup for parts of the last several years with a moderate level of success. He already has four top 60 finishes. He’s still just 22 years old but he’s already raced at World Championships the last two seasons.
His best two races over these championships were the Sprint races where he hit a combined 18/20 shots and won each race with ease. Over the last two seasons on the IBU Cup he’s hit 73.8% and 71.1% respectively so that kind of shooting would be a boon to his performance!
He was followed up in each race by Ian Franzke and Thomas Kinnear in each race.
Isabella Moon competing in the Sprint at the 2025 Australian Summer National Championship races held at Whiskey Flat Mt Hotham, Victoria
Photo by Chris Hocking © 2025 Biathlon Australia
On the women’s side the first weekend belonged to 21 year old Isabella Moon. She Noah Bradford, even being so young, she has still run on the IBU Cup a few times but hasn’t quite had the breakthrough yet. Again, though, she’s still just 21! In the first weekend Sprint and Short Individual it wasn’t the greatest shooting day for anybody but Moon skied herself to victory over Katerina Paul.
Katerina Paul competing in the Sprint at the 2025 Australian Summer National Championship races held at Whiskey Flat Mt Hotham, Victoria
Photo by Chris Hocking © 2025 Biathlon Australia
Paul got her back the second weekend though. Moon, unfortunately, wasn’t able to start and Katerina Paul took advantage to take the gold in the Sprint and Mass Start.
Rosie Franzke competing in the Sprint at the 2025 Australian Summer National Championship races held at Whiskey Flat Mt Hotham, Victoria
Photo by Chris Hocking © 2025 Biathlon Australia
I mentioned one of the Juniors was important in these championships and that would be Rosie Franzke. Just 17 years old she raced in the u18 competitions and won every race. Had she raced in the u21 competitions she still would have won at least the Sprints and Short Individual race.
Rosie is definitely one to keep an eye on for Team Australia. Last year she had her best racing thus far in her young career. Her best finishes were two 41st place finishes, one occuring in the Goms Sprint and one in the Youth Worlds Individual. While she continued to only hit in the mid 60% range, her skiing took a significant step forward with her average ski rank improving form near 70 to 55. It actually got better as the season went on with her best course time ranks peaking in Goms and then at Youth Worlds.
Hopefully can continue her skiing success and take a step forward with her shooting. Darcie Morton is just 25 year old and Damika is 17 along with Rosie. It would be great if Rosie could continue to climb into those ranks with her as well! I will definitely be watching her closely the next few seasons.