Copper Speed Week

This past week was the Copper, Colorado Nor-Am Speed Week. Over the course of the week, I competed in 3 downhill races followed by 2 super-g races. By the end of my training camp here in November, I was finally starting to put down some fast times in the speed events, so I was excited to start the Nor-Am speed season! The first Downhill race was the US National Championship. Although the National Championship has no effect on Nor-Am points, everyone tries to send it as hard as possible because having the US Downhill Champion title to your name is pretty sweet. I started Bib 1, and had a clean run, and ran an aggressive line. My result wasn't quite what I expected, with a 30th place. My friend and teammate Bryce Bennet ended up taking the win. I wasn't totally sure what went wrong, and to be honest, I still don't know. But, that's how ski racing is sometimes and you just have to put it behind you, and that's exactly what I did, or tried to do. The next 2 downhills were Nor-Am races. I started 22nd in both of the Nor-Am downhills, and unfortunately, the later start number didn't help me score any top 30's. For the first time in over a year, I failed to score Nor-Am points in a Nor-Am cup speed event. I couldn't figure out what was going wrong. It was frustrating to me, my coaches, and my technician. Sometimes some people ski faster on certain types of snow/hills and this week was just not my week for downhill. I put it behind me, and moved onto the super-g's. 

Luckily, I got my slow ski racing out of the way in the downhills. I started both super-g Nor-Ams with bib 3. My goal was to finish top 15 to start racking up some Nor-Am points, and maybe even get some FIS points. I finished both super-g runs decently clean, with some aggressive tactics. When I got to the bottom of my first race, I was just hoping that it wasn't another clean and slow run... and it wasn't! I finished both super-g's in 8th place overall, and was the top Junior (under 21 years old) in each race as well! The first race was a career best 8th position as well as a career best super-g FIS score of 16. I was excited to see myself follow up some of the worst skiing I have done in a while, with career best races. I hope those downhill races were just a fluke, and I can get some good results over in Europe next month. But for now, I am gearing up for Vail, Colorado Nor-Am Tech series this coming week (2 SL, and 2 GS)!

Here is a picture of me on top of the junior podium. Teammate Brian McLaughlin in second, and Canadian ski team member Chris Steinke in third.