Hey everyone, sorry I haven’t been able to write recently.  With school, traveling, no internet connection, it has been exceedingly difficult to try to get this blog up, but here it is!

Well, the day is over.  The week has passed, and suddenly it is the end of the trip.  It was more fun than I could have ever expected, even though it ended a little bittersweet.  I gave it my all in these races, and that comes with a certain set of risks.  I went 110% in my second run of slalom, and pushed it a little too far over the edge.  However, I would like to go in chronological order in these things so I’ll start with Thursday and the GS.

The GS was very technical and pushed my abilities probably a little past my comfort zone.  When I say this, I mean that I was put a into a little bit of panic mode instead of just skiing like I know how to ski.  The first run especially, I was a little tentative.  When someone does something that puts them outside their comfort zone, the natural reaction is for their body to try to bring them back in the comfort zone.  In skiing, this essentially means bringing your speed to a more comfortable level.  On a couple big turns, instead of laying into it, I did a little stivet (a little speed check).  This stivet exponentially slowed me down.  These little things added up to a little less speed, a little less aggressiveness, and a slower time.  Some of the better guys that hadn’t finished in the super g crushed this race and went all out.  I came down after the first run in 9th, and moved back to 16th by the end of the run.  I was a little disappointed in my performance but knew that I would go 100% on the second run.  I went up and inspected for second run and slipped the course about 2x as fast as I would normally.  I get in this zone sometimes that I just know that the line I take won’t matter I’m just going to ski as hard as possible.  It started getting really warm before the second run so they delayed the start a little to put down salt.  It was getting really slushy and the conditions weren’t looking too good.  They held the race after the first 10 guys to work the course some more so I was excited to get a cleaner course than I might of otherwise.  When I got in the gate, I knew what I was going to do and was really confident in my abilities.  I charged out of the gate and skied the top section awesome but lost a little time before going into the flats which really slowed me down.  When I got to the finish I was really happy with my skiing, but the time didn’t really agree.  I knew where I lost time so I was confident that I could ski with the top guys if I didn’t make that mistake again.  It was generally a really fun day and I was super happy to have been able to live that experience and represent the USA!

(Sorry for the random gray dot, trying to fix that)

Now for the slalom! The slalom was a super fun race that I knew I had a shot for a medal in.  I was 4th in the slalom portion of the super combined so I was really excited to see how this race would go.  It was snowing profusely on race day and I was worried how the conditions would be.  We were skiing the same course that the girls had skied the day before so I was a little unsure how it would hold up.  Thankfully, we had an army of course workers to plow off the hill and make it skiable (literally the Austrian Army was out there shoveling the course for us).  We set up the warm up course in about a foot of powder; it got torn to shreds in about 10 minutes.  Still, I felt ready to attack the slalom and was super pumped for the run.  I crushed out of the gate and skied really good on the upper pitch into the flats.  I got a little low and inside and had to ski below the gate for about 10 until  I could get back above it but that really cost me.  I crossed over the finish in 4th place and moved to 5th at the end of the run.  I felt ready for the second run because I was only about half a second out of silver so I knew if I skied a good run I could get a medal.  About 5 of the 10 skiers that went before me skied out of the course so I knew that it definitely wasn’t going to be easy.  The kid who went right before me had tied me the first run and went out after only about 6 gates.  There was a real trouble gate right going into a hairpin into the flats and a lot of kids were straddling or skiing out there.  I went out of the gate and arced the entire pitch and made it through there with no problem. I was happy with myself for making it through there and started to really charge.  I broke over a knoll and my inside ski slid out and kicked out my outside ski.  I went almost in slow motion just below the gate and I was thinking “I can make it!!!!!!” until I hit the powder on the side of the course and fell into the net.  I was really upset that I DNFed but I now know that my skiing would have put me on the podium for the entire world of my age.  I am taking a lot out of these races, I can’t wait to race back home in the US.  I have so much confidence right now, I have a week off before about 9 days of racing and I’m super excited for all of these.

This event was special for me and it went far above what I ever could have expected.  I now know that no matter how good of points these guys have, or who they’ve beaten or skied against, none of it matters.  All that matters is how you ski when the pressure is on you and I know that I can race with the best of them.  I feel that if the same group of kids meets again in four or five years,  I will be right in contention for some medals.  I feel like this group is going to do some great things, we have a lot of great skiers and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a good portion of us in South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.  These games have let me see what international competition really is, I am now going to come home to the US with a new focus and drive.  I feel freshly motivated to race, but until next time: school, school, and more school.  The life of a young athlete, wouldn’t trade anything for it!

Goodbye from Yoggl

Two races down, two to go.  I have been so busy as of late that I have had literally no time to do anything at all.  Saturday and Sunday were the super g and the super combined respectively, and both were a blast.  I have raced super g four or five times in the past few years so I really haven’t had much experience with the skills required for it.  I was bib 17 for the day, a better bib than I would have expected for having 95 super g points.  I felt like I had a decent run, I made a pretty big mistake in this middle crazy section of the course but I skied really well above and below that.  When I got down I was a little disappointed with my time but I had a great split so I knew that I was flying.  I was only 0.3 out after almost 40 seconds so I knew that without that mistake I could have been in contention for a podium spot.  The middle part of the course was absolutely crazy and bizarre.  You come over a left-footer roll, go through two big gs-like turns, a right-footer delay to a left-footer delay that was about a 90 degree turn.  The next gate after the 2nd delay was a shakane gate that went strait into a 3-gate left-footed corridor for about 100+ meters on the flats.  You finished the 3-gate corridor over a knoll into another 90 degree right-footer off the jump.  Needless to say, it was pretty confusing and only 2 of the first 7 made it through there.

Is that really my time?

The super combined, one run of super g and one run of slalom combined together, was one of the most fun days racing I have ever had.  They redressed the super g from the day before, so there was no major changes.  I knew what I had to do to improve on the day before so I was confident in my abilities.  I was bib 25 for the race because I had no super combined points, only about 20 people had points for the race which made the penalty at the end a remarkable 90.  I skied the whole run really well and I felt great about the run when I went through the finish.  A lot more guys finished that run than the day before so I wasn’t too surprised to see myself a little back.  I thought I improved on my second time down, but so did everyone else.  I was 2.6 out after the super g and slid back from 16th when I came through the finish line to 25th after everyone came down.  However, this actually worked to my advantage because I was still the same amount of time away from the leader while all these people who were finishing in front of me were just giving me a better start position for the slalom portion (after the super g, the top 30 are reversed for the second run).  I got to go 6th out of the gate for the slalom, and the course was perfect.  I was a little unsure of myself for a while before the start but Peter got me back into the right mindset.  I really attribute so much of my success to him, he has a way of making you believe that you are one of the best skiers out there and that if you ski well you will be happy with the results.  I had been doubting myself because of the points that the top guys had, but Peter fixed me right before my run.  Thank you Peter!!!  I watched the guy who went right before me and knew that I could crush this race.  I went down the course and went almost as hard as I can and when I got to the finish I knew that it was a really good run.  I looked up on the scoreboard and saw my name there and just fist pumped in the air.  I had to go to equipment control right after and it took me about the time of three or four people for me to finish; I kept peeking my head out of the tent as the guys came down to see if I was still in the lead.  I kept the lead for a while, then one guy knocked me down, then I held that position, then another knocked me down, and then I fell off the board.  I knew I didn’t have a real chance for the podium after my first run but I still hoped and it was a little disappointing seeing my name fall off the leader board.  I finished the race in 10th place overall, a great position after my first run.  I was 4th on the run (.23 out of the fastest) so that gives me a lot of confidence for the slalom on Saturday.  A lot of my family and my girlfriend will be there for that race so I’m exited to try and make them proud in the slalom and GS.  Here are my two super combined runs, hope you enjoy!

SC Super G (placed me in 25th)

SC Slalom (4th!!!)

P.s. So apparently in order to view these videos you need a Sprongo account… does anyone have a solution around this? Comment please.