Europe!

When I got to Europe last week, I went straight to Austria to race in 2 Europa Cup Super-G’s. They were supposed to take place in Radstadt, but due to lack of snow, they were moved next door to Reiteralm. The last time I skied at Reiteralm was when I did a mini Euro trip during my senior year at Stratton Mountain School. Cool to be back! For the first race I really had no expectations, because I had never done a Europa Cup Super-G before, and it was only my 4^th Europa Cup ever. I started bib 42. I knew it would be a little bumpy, but the snow was holding up pretty well. When I skied through the finish I knew I had a solid run, but I was shocked when I turned around and saw that I had skied into 6^th place! I was beyond stoked with this result. I had never even come close to scoring Europa Cup points, and in 1 day I scored 40 of ‘em. The next day I was able to start in the first seed, wearing bib 14. I knew the snow would be better, so my plan was to tighten up the line in some places and go after it a little more. I ended up finishing the day in 7^th place. Though I didn’t place as well the second day, my time was closer to the winner; so I scored a career best result of 12! After competing in just 2 of the 4 Europa Cup Super-G’s, I now sit in 12^th place in the standings.

2 years ago, I was able to get experience on World Cup speed venues, racing in Wengen Europa Cup, and forerunning Beaver Creek World Cup. Earlier this winter I was able to race on the Lake Loiuse Downhill track in a Nor-Am. This past week I got to experience what it is like to race on the most demanding track of the GS World Cup Circuit—Val D’Isere. During inspection, I knew it was going to take some of my best skiing to make the flip in a Europa Cup GS, or to even make it down the hill at all! Unfortunately, I skied out of the course on both first runs. It was difficult starting with bib 67. I haven’t started that far back all season, so the bumpy course was definitely a surprise. Luckily, this was my last race with 19 GS points (in a few days they will go down to 13). I am still very happy with the way I am skiing and am stoked for some more races! Next I have 2 European Cup GS’s in Zuos, Switzerland, then it’s back to Canada for some Nor-Ams. 

Here are my 2 race runs from the Reiteralm Europa Cup Super-G's.