It’s been a tough couple of weeks. The World Cup circuit continues to struggle with the warm temperatures and lack of snow over here in Europe. There have been a lot of race delays, cancellations, and overall sub-par racing conditions. I was extremely disappointed when the Super G in Zauchensee, Austria—the most technical Super G on the women’s circuit this year—was cancelled last week due to bad weather.

I have also been quite sick for the last two weeks, which hasn’t made anything much easier. I battled the flu leading into the races in Zauchensee, so I was pretty weak by the time the weekend rolled around. While I did ski well in the Downhill there, the lowered start and soft snow proved too many variables for me to overcome. Finishing outside of the points (42nd) was another discouraging finish in Downhill for me, but I am confident that things will fall in place with Downhill eventually because I know that I am doing the right stuff.

When I traveled to Cortina, Italy last week I came down with an awful cough which kept me from sleeping for several nights. Sleep-deprived and all, I skied well. I definitely made mistakes and didn’t get the anywhere near results that I wanted, but that’s part of ski racing…

In the Super G race I got wide on a turn coming onto the flats which cost me a lot of speed for the remainder of the course. My splits were all top-20 until that point, but I ended up way back in 28th place. I was “sending it” in the Downhill race, but the extremely warm temperatures made the snow sticky for those of us running towards the end of the field and I finished in 35th, 0.27 out of the top-30. Thick fog in the Giant Slalom race made visibility near impossible on Sunday. It was such poor visibility that my depth perception got messed up towards the bottom of the course and I was literally in a panel before I knew it. Once I realized that the gate was so close, it was too late to correct and I was out of the course.

Despite a rough few races, I have a lot going for me. For one, I was named to the 2007 U.S. World Championship Team as of today! I expect to be racing in both the Super G and Giant Slalom races, my two favorite events. I also feel like I have “turned the corner” with my illnesses, so I am feeling much better.

I head to San Sicario, Italy tomorrow for two Super G races (one rescheduled from Zauchensee) and a Downhill. San Sicario is the Olympic venue from last year, so I am familiar with it, but not particularly fond of it. (It’s quite flat.) My best friend from home is coming to visit me during these races though, so it should be a fun week.

After San Sicario, I will be heading up to Are, Sweden for World Championships. I went to World Champs in 2003 but not in 2005, so I am really looking forward to getting to experience it again. Plus, being Norwegian, I really love Scandinavia and have always enjoyed my time there.

I could attribute my career-best 14th place GS finish in Kranjska Gora to a variety of things: The sense of ease I felt in the start gate because of the several extra GS starts I’d had. My resolve to ski well top-to-bottom since I’d made a big mistake just before the finish in Semmering (where I failed to qualify.) The confidence I generated during of an off-season dedicated to improving my GS. The positive feeling I found while I was freeskiing at home over New Year’s with my brother. All of these things came together and I finally earned my first Giant Slalom top-15!

I have always wanted to race on a men’s hill (besides Lake Louise) so I was thrilled that our races were moved from the women’s venue, Maribor, to a men’s hill, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Kranjska proved to be the kind of technical, icy, and challenging hill I’d watched year after year on TV. The snow was injected so it was rock-hard, but still grippy and smooth. The last pitch was long and very steep. It was perfect.

I started number 55 and moved up to 19th place after my first run. It was a tough day for the Team since I was the only one to even get into the top 30 and earn a second run. Second run I came down in second place and ended up moving up five places to finish in 14th. I felt like I could have skied better my second run—I think I was too round in parts—but I did have two top-10 splits, so it couldn’t have been too bad…

I am excited about my breakthrough in GS and really look forward to racing the next GS in Cortina, Italy. In the meantime, however, I will be focusing on Downhill and Super G this weekend in Zauchensee, Austria. I have been fighting some kind of illness and nausea the past few days, so hopefully I will start to feel better. Zauchensee is also a technical hill, so I am confident that I can do well here.

Happy 2007!