Aussie Biathletes Attend the H3 Summit
Last month, four BA stars – Ava McCann, Boris Stanish, Phoenix Sparke and Samuel Johnson – attended the H3 Summit.
Since 2023, the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) has partnered with Snow Australia to deliver the H3 Summit (Health, Happiness, High Performance). As the Olympic and Paralympic quadrennium culminated in the Milano Cortina Games, ‘Transitions’ was the central theme of the 2026 H3 Summit. This year’s guest speakers drew on their personal and professional journeys to share practical tactics, insights, and lessons learned to support some of Australia’s elite winter athletes navigate the various transitions throughout their elite sport career and life in general. The H3 Summit provides an excellent opportunity to connect sports across the winter family, strengthening networks and fostering a unified team culture beyond Olympic and Paralympic team environments.
“I was very grateful to be given the opportunity to attend my first H3 Summit,” said Ava McCann, “It was incredibly inspiring to hear from many successful athletes and speakers about mindset, attitude, resilience and performance. The theme of transitions was especially important for me as I start my journey into university, whilst balancing my sporting commitments. It was also really exciting to meet athletes from other winter sports, some I had only ever seen on TV.”
“It’s not often that a speaker has knocked on death's door, gone in for a tea party and promptly uninvited themselves after a few cups of tea. But the opening speaker at the 2026 H3 Summit had, on multiple occasions,” explained Boris Stanish. “This was my first experience at the H3 Summit, and it did not disappoint. It was opened by a few short remarks from Snow Australia and OWIA bigwigs and immediately launched into Michael Crossland’s presentation – which felt like people were cutting onions in all corners of the room before resolving with his memo - ‘this too shall pass’”, reflected Boris, “What a story!”
“We then launched into a panel session, and some activity and music therapy, which solidified and built upon this year’s theme of transition. To finish off the day, our final speaker Anna Meares told us of her journey from a child athlete all the way to Olympic champion, being the villain at the London Olympics (what an icon), and retiring from sports, learning to do sport recreationally - and finally becoming chief de mission at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. I couldn’t have asked for a more cohesive arrangement of presentations on transition that catered to those at the beginning of their professional career like myself, those at the pinnacle and those nearing the end of their sports careers.”
Michael Crossland also left an impression on Phoenix Sparke, as he recalls Michael’s anecdote about his mother’s attitude and mindset during his tough childhood, in which he had a 96% chance of death: “I don’t want to know the chance of my son dying my mum would say; I want to know the chance of my son surviving. She chose to look at my glass as 4% full instead of 96% empty - other than love, hope is one of the strongest words in the English dictionary.”
“The summit was a great opportunity to meet and reconnect with other Winter sport athletes,” according to Samuel Johnson, “and to listen and learn from multiple presentations. I really appreciated the presentations from Michael Crossland, and Anna Meares, as they challenged my thoughts on perspective.”
As BA transitions from one Olympic/Paralympic quad to another, we have firmly set our sights on the French Alps 2030. There’s much to be done, and we’re confident our Team will make it. We have amazing partners. Team-oriented coaches. Talented athletes. Tremendous support.
We’re extremely grateful to our friends at the OWIA and Snow Australia for hosting the H3 Summit and having some of our stars share the moment.
Ski Fast | Shoot Straight | Transition Smoothly
Dave, Sandy, Brett, Libby, Kat, Kate, Mark & Murray
