February

Hey guys! Its been a while since I posted last. After my January Europe trip, I went to Mont Saint Anne to race in 2 Noram GS’s. We got to freeski the hill the day before the race, and we were stoked to see some east coast ice! Though a bit inconsistent, the surface was solid. I ended up finishing 12^th in the first race and 9^th in the second. On the second day I was winning after the split on both runs; but I totally blew both runs with big mistakes near the finish. Unfortunately the series didn’t go as well as I had wanted it to, but I did end up walking away with some Nor-Am points.

The next series was Whiteface Norams for 1 GS race and 2 Super-G races. The GS and the first Super-G definitely did not go as planned, as both resulted in crashes. The second Super-G however went fairly well. I had a minor mistake coming down the first pitch but then sent it the rest of the way. I finished in 6^th place, which was ok, but finished just .19 behind the winner. So, I scored my 2^nd best Super-G ever, a 14!

After this series we got a 7-day break, so I went to Bozeman, Montana to visit my girlfriend, Taly. It was a super relaxing week with some free-skiing at Bridger Bowl and Big Sky. We also got to celebrate Taly’s 21^st birthday!

After 7 days off, it was back to Europe to get some training in before my first ever World Cup at the Hinterstoder Super-G. The nerves were definitely going crazy the day of the race, so my plan was to just go out and ski like I have been all year. I know I couldn’t have crazy expectations for my first World Cup, but I definitely wanted to ski the best I could! During inspection, it was clear how much more demanding World Cup hills are than Nor-Am and FIS race courses.

I took this picture during inspection. You can see how steep the slope is, but the picture does not show how icy the surface really is. IT WAS AN ICE RINK! Just before my run, I became pretty nervous. They had a TV at the start playing the entire run, and we could see there was a jump that was causing a bunch of people trouble. Some people were even crashing pretty hard in it. When I was in the start, they had a course hold because the kid right in front of me crashed on the jump and went into the net! I tried to stay calm, but when the clock started beeping for the 10 second count down my heart started racing. 5…4…3…2…1 boom, I was on course in my first World Cup, and all the nerves went away. Once I was on course I felt like I knew exactly what to do. I charged the top of the course and was only 1.7 off the pace when I made a huge mistake that probably should have ended my run; however, I fought to stay in the course because I really wanted to ski through the finish of my first World Cup… and there was a pretty fun jump at the bottom of the course. HA! I obviously didn’t do as well as I had hoped, but I learned so much from just one day on the World Cup. Now I want to do more! Here is a video of my run. I know it's super janky quality, but they give a shoutout to Wachusett! YA!