After spending my first few days here in Europe resting my injured leg, I raced a World Cup Super-G in Altenmarkt, Austria on the 11th. Still dealing with quite a lot of pain inside my boot, I skied more conservatively than I think I otherwise would have. I didn’t seem to trust my leg enough to really “send it” in the straighter sections of the course. I ended up in 15th place, which is respectable, but as I’ve mentioned before, I am hungry to do better.

Soon following the race in Austria, we made the long ten-hour drive to Val d’Isere, France. The Downhill course there was fun—a lot of terrain and jumps—although the speeds were not very high or challenging. My leg slowly began to feel better and I was 20th in one of the training runs (with a couple top-15 splits in the turnier sections.) But then it started to snow… A LOT. Our third training run, along with both of the races, were cancelled due to huge amounts of snow and high winds.

Another long (seven-hour) drive brought us to St. Moritz, Switzerland on Sunday afternoon. I felt more confident and excited going into today’s Super G than I have in a long time. I am still coping with some lingering injuries from my Lake Louise crash, (my right lower leg still bothers me a bit, and I also have pain from a rib problem near my left shoulder blade) but I finally felt healthy enough to fully attack without holding back.

And I did just that. I was skiing well, and I was skiing aggressively. Shortly after the first timing split, however, my uphill ski slid out and knocked my downhill foot out from under me. I fell. I can honestly say that I haven’t felt so much disappointment in one given moment. It may sound cheesey, but I was convinced that today was my day. I was feeling so good. I was confident that I would at least get the top-10 result that’s eluded me for so many races, if not better. It was difficult to watch from the finish, unimpressed by most of my competitors skiing, feeling like I’d missed a tremendous opportunity.

I suppose having a DNF isn’t that big of a deal in a “normal” season, but this year is a World Championships year. World Champs are contested every two years and will be held this year in Bormio, Italy at the end of January. Only four athletes per country are allowed to compete in each discipline, and my team’s selection will be based primarily on World Cup rankings. The U.S. Ski Team happens to be extremely strong this season and because I failed to earn any points from today’s race, I have some work cut out for me in January.

I will spend Christmas this week at my teammate’s apartment in Lienz, Austria. It is really hard to be away from home at this time of year, but I guess it comes with the territory… I will race in a World Cup Giant Slalom in Semmering, Austria on December 28th, followed by some Europa Cup speed races (on the same hill as where the World Championships will be held) the first week of January.

Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and happy new year!!

For those who either saw or read that I was air-lifted after I crashed in the Downhill at Lake Louise: I’m okay… I apologize for the scare. Trust me when I tell you that it was a big scare for me, too. Crashing and “testing out” fencing at 60 mph is never a fun ordeal. The ski patrol who strapped me to a backboard and sent me down the mountain dangling from a helicopter tried to tell me that being air-lifted is fun, but given the circumstances, I didn’t exactly agree.

Sometimes in ski racing, freaky accidents just happen. A few moments after I landed off the “coaches corner” jump in Lake Louise last Friday, I caught my right edge. I almost did the splits, recovered for an instant, but then crashed and went straight into ‘A’ net. After the impact and a short slide down the length of the fence, I bounced back out. I was surprised to assess that my knees were totally fine, but there was intense pain inside my right boot. My first thoughts were that I’d broken my lower leg.

Once we got my ski boot off I knew that my tibia was totally fine, but judging by the area and intensity of the pain, we thought that my fibula might have been fractured. Our team doctor drove me to Banff where X-rays confirmed that my bones were all okay. My shin and calf muscles were so traumatized, tight, and sore, however, that I had a hard time even moving my foot to walk. I decided to skip the second downhill in hopes that I would be able to tolerate putting my foot into a ski boot for the Super G race the following day.

When I first skied down to inspect the Super G course on Sunday I didn’t think there was any way I would be able to race. It was very painful. I slowly became accustomed to the discomfort, however, and I ended up going for it. Starting number six, I laid down a smart, solid run. Lake Louise, traditionally, is not a great hill for me. As a somewhat small person and a technical skier, it’s difficult to keep up with the bigger girls on a hill that’s halfway composed of flat terrain. I ended up 17th place, which is actually my best result on that hill to date.

I normally do not feel pain when I race injured (which I’ve been forced to do slightly too frequently, if you ask me) but I felt the pain inside my boot my entire run. I think my coaches recognized my accomplishment that day because they were very happy for me. All things considered, 17th is a good result, but I still didn’t feel satisfied at the end of the day. Top twenty’s have gotten a little old. I am ready for better this year, especially in Super G.

I race in another Super G in Altenmarkt, Austria on Saturday, December 11th.