Going Fast, Getting Better: Cam Turner’s Rise to the World Cup

Three gold medals at the Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) in Perisher this domestic winter season said it plainly: Cameron ‘Cam’ Turner’s breakthrough season was no one-off.

The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) snowboard cross athlete swept all three ANC races during the Australian winter and will now take that form to Europe as he prepares for his first World Cup campaign.

“Winning all three ANC’s was amazing. My goal was to win the overall,” the 20-year-old said. “I’m really comfortable with where my riding is at and have worked on this a lot over the Australian winter.”

For Turner, pushing himself and going fast has always been at the core of his love for snowboarding.

“My first time snowboarding was in Japan when my parents got my brother and I snowboards,” he said. “I liked it a lot more than skiing, and then I took it back to Mount Buller, which was where my first club program was at. I just like going fast and being precise.”

Turner’s trifecta followed a season in which he became Australia’s first Junior Snowboard Cross World Champion and finished second overall in the FIS Europa Cup, an open-age series that’s a key stepping stone to the world cup tour.

With only a few years of international racing experience, his rise hasn’t been immediate.

“Your first year of Europa cups is quite tough. I don’t even think I qualified for one Europa cup!” he said. “But then each year, you get better and better. I’ve just seen upwards progression in each year.”

Four years later, he finished second in the world.

Now, as he prepares to test that form against a senior world cup field, the question isn’t whether the talent is real, it’s whether this is the season it starts translating on the main stage.

“A big thing with my racing is being really confident,” Turner said. “When I’m confident, I ride a lot better. So hopefully going into the world cup this season, I take the confidence with me, focus on myself, and think of it as any other race.”

That confidence gathered momentum last season, with six podium finishes across 2025/26 following a training block at the National Snowsports Training Centre (NSTC) in Jindabyne and Perisher.

“The big focus was being more consistent from run to run on course, trying to replicate the runs you get on world cup because, on a new track, you don’t get many runs before competing,” Turner said. “We were trying to simulate that in training.”

Seventy-two hours before being crowned Junior World Champion, Turner won silver at the final Europa cup leg in St. Moritz, the same course he’d race days later at junior worlds, against a field that included several world cup athletes.

“From the start of the day, I knew the main thing was winning,” Turner said.

“It got to the big final and, I think a lot of the time, because you go through so many heats, you enter flow state and it’s just all about repetition. I remember just pulling out of the gate, leading the whole way. Coming across that line in first, it was crazy!”

Ahead of his first world cup season, Turner spent the Australian winter working on the details he believes can set him apart.

“I’ve been working on my turns and making sure I’m consistent from run to run,” he said. “This was a gap last season, and it was really great to work on these aspects and see the improvements made.”

He credits the environment around him for accelerating that.

“We’re in the gym together, we’re on snow together, we’re living together at the NSTC, that culture really drives progression,” he said. “Everyone gets along, you can really work together, and it speeds up the process.”

“This season, I want to show that I can compete against the top athletes and keep progressing by qualifying consistently at this level,” he said. “I’m excited to have the opportunity and can’t wait to get back racing.”

And for the Junior World Champion, the formula for taking that next step is simple.

“The more you put in, the more you get out,” he told NSWIS Media. There’s a difference between just doing the work and doing the work well. I think by doing that, you can set yourself apart.”

Rachel Tingey, NSWIS Media

Cover Image: Markus Ulmer/FIS