2 months ago
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Darcie Morton is in a Norwegian laboratory. She has a set of roller skis on, a metabolic tube in her mouth and ski poles in hand as she skates along rhythmically on a treadmill.
Morton is a science experiment. She’s also an aspiring Olympian.
The 25-year-old from Melbourne is hoping to qualify for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics in biathlon – a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing with shooting – and her treadmill workout is a crucial (and costly) exercise called VO2 testing.
“They don’t actually have that treadmill in Australia, you can only do that test running in Australia, but in Europe, especially Norway, there is a testing in the universities [showing] how to train better and different interval sessions researching specifically for my sport,” Morton said.
Australian biathlete Darcie Morton competing in Italy in January 2025.Credit: Getty
Simply put, VO2 testing measures the maximum amount of oxygen an individual can use during intense exercise. For athletes – and especially Winter athletes who compete at high altitudes – it’s important to know how your body operates, and how far you can push yourself.
“A lot of people do it just before the snow comes, so when the tracks are really slippery or icy, they go and roller ski on the treadmills, and it helps because you’ve got mirrors all around you, you can see your technique, you can speed it up and slow it down so you can do specific intervals,” she said.
“It’s really quite good, but it’s quite expensive usually to go on there, but I got on there because I was doing the project, and it’s also good to do testing. You can obviously be hooked up to an oxygen monitor, the VO2 and [measure] your lactate [levels].”
The VO2 testing is just one of the unique ways Morton has prepared for a potential Olympic debut.
The other is roller-skiing, which is an exercise similar to rollerblading to replicate the movement of skiing.
“It’s really common for all biathletes. I do it a lot in Australia as well,” Morton said.
“It’s sometimes more difficult on the roads in Australia because people don’t know what you’re doing, they’re a bit confused about what you’re doing on the road, but that one is the exercise that mimics skiing, so it’s the closest we can get to skiing without being on snow.”
Biathlon is a foreign sport to most Australians, although there is one track at Mount Hotham in Victoria which gets snow for about 16 to 18 weeks a year.
But for Morton, the sport was always part of her life. Her father Cameron represented Australia in biathlon at the 2006 Olympics in Torino.
Now, Morton is attempting to follow in his footsteps.
“I had always aimed for world cup [events] and results at world cup, and I didn’t really expect that I’d be able to get to the Olympics until the last few years,” Morton said.
“I tried to go to the last Olympics as well, but I was injured, and I had an ankle injury before that and I got really sick. So, I didn’t really have high hopes. But the last few years I’ve gotten much better results, and now I’m actually in the running for the qualification.”
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As an Australian, it’s difficult to qualify for the Olympics in biathlon.
There are a total of 105 places in the Olympic event, but 93 of those go to nationally ranked teams and the host nation, of which Australia is neither. That leaves 12 spots for individual athletes, and that’s one of the spots Morton is trying to secure.
At this point, Morton is still aiming to seal her Olympic qualification, but quotas aren’t secured until late January.
With three world cup events left before the Olympics in February, Morton was confident she could handle the pressure and get the points to secure an Olympic debut.
“I’ve had a lot of experience with it which is good, leading into these few races and the pressure I’ll be put under, but I think I’ve had good preparation this year as well and the previous few years,” she said.
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