Over the past week I have competed in four GS races. Two of
the races took place in Park City, Utah and the other two were in Big Sky,
Montana- all four being University races. A few of the western college racers
are ex/current world cup racers, and most of them are podium contenders on the
Nor-Am circuit. Also, about 20 of the top 30 college racers are international
(a lot of Canadians and Europeans). I was definitely impressed with how low the
points were when I saw the first start sheet.
The first two races at Park City were seeded off of FIS GS
points, so I was able to just barely squeak into the first seed. The snow was
not the best, so it definitely helped to start earlier. After the first run of
the first race, I was in first! I was super pumped, because I knew I had been
training fast the whole week leading up to the races, but was definitely surprised
to be leading the entire field by .45 of a second. I was pretty nervous heading
into the second run, because I don’t think I have ever won the first run of a
GS in my FIS career. I tried to stay calm and ski the same as I did first run. Unfortunately,
I nearly did the splits about 8 gates from the finish and had to ski out. On
one hand I was overly excited with how fast I was skiing, but the other hand
was slapping my forehead over and over because I thought I could have won! I
did my best to forget about what happened and move onto the next day.
The first run of the second race went exactly as it did the
first day! I was in the lead again. I knew I just had to have a solid run
without any huge mistakes and would have a good shot at winning… I did just
that and not only won my first FIS GS race ever, but took the win on both runs!
I was extremely excited with my best GS result of the season, scoring a 16.
On my way to placing 1st in the Park City FIS GS
Next was Big Sky, Montana. I have spent quite a bit of time
over the past couple summers hiking, biking, and fishing all around the Big Sky
area, but had never skied it! So I was ready to take my fast skiing from Park
City over to Montana. These races were no longer seeded off of FIS points, but
rather college circuit points from last year (which I had zero). So I started
34th. At first I was a bit disappointed with my bib number, but when
I saw how solid the snow was during inspection I knew it wouldn’t be a problem.
I kicked out of the start with even more confidence than I had in Park City,
and absolutely sent it. Once again, I came down into the lead. From bib 34! So,
I got ready for my third race in a row where I was starting 30th in
the second run. I tried to stay calm for the couple hours leading into second
run, but it’s much more difficult than I thought! I attacked the second run
with the same intensity that I had first run… I ended up winning the run, and
the race just in front of my teammate Kipling! It definitely felt good to win
my second race in a row, but even more fun to share the podium with my good
friend and teammate. I got even better news later that night when the final
results came out, and I saw that I scored the best race of my career—an 11!
I did my best to stay focused for one more day to try and
match my 11-point result. I got to start in the first seed the next day with
bib 7. For the fourth day in a row, I won the first run and had to start the
second run 30th. I thought I would start to get used to it, but my
nerves were going crazy! At the top of the second run I had a bobble that
dumped all of my speed for the flats and had to play catch up for the rest of
the run. I did my best to charge the pitch harder than I had in the previous
runs, but it wasn’t enough. I had a .4 second lead going into the second run
but ended up 18th on the second run, placing 4th overall
(scoring another 16-point result). Though I totally blew that second run, I
couldn’t have been more stoked on how the week went. Between Park City and Big
Sky, I ended up winning 6 of the 8 runs I took.
I am currently sitting on a plane heading over to Europe. I am about 1/3 of the way through the season, and I now have lower FIS points in GS, SG, and DH than I ever have. Now its time to put my speed into some European cups! Over the next three weeks I will have 4GS, 3 SG, and 2 DH starts on the European Cup. Time to turn it up!
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