I’ll admit, it has been a disappointing couple of weeks.

By nature, ski racing is always a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. I suppose I should not be entirely surprised that I’ve slipped into a brief slump—especially considering my limited training—but that doesn’t make my sub-par results any easier to swallow.

Although I didn’t qualify for second run in the GS in Maribor (35th), it was easy to brush off the disappointment because it was practically impossible to move into the top-30 that day. Conditions were really poor and only two girls starting outside the top-30, broke into the top-30. Thirtieth place was almost six seconds out! I skied well and was pleased to have a mistake-free run on a challenging course.

Me racing in Maribor. Photo credit: Zoom Agence

After Maribor, I had a really productive three-day training block in Reinswald, Italy. I can’t tell you how nice it was to finally have a few days to focus on my skiing away from a competitive setting. The Super G training went really well and it was encouraging to see that my times were just as fast as Lindsey’s. I also figured a few things out with my equipment setup… Basically, I made gains with my skiing and equipment that I normally would have been making in October or November. I finally felt like I found a level of skiing that felt solid and competitive.

Cortina at its best

Unfortunately, I didn’t do a very good job at translating that feeling to my racing. Albeit, my 29th in the Downhill in Cortina wasn’t a bad result for me—especially on such a glider’s course—but my finishes in the Super G races were definitely a letdown. In the first Super G I was too hard on my edges in the soft snow, and I had a couple of uncharacteristic bobbles. I was crushed that I got 35th place in what I consider “my” event.

The next day I was determined to be more aggressive with my line, softer on my edges, and more relaxed with my approach. I actually did all of these things… Then I went out of the course. My aggressive tactics eventually caught up to me when I hit some bumps, and missed a gate. Game over. I don’t remember the last time I DNF’d a Super G. I never do that. I was bummed, but at least I went out going for it, which was at least better than the day before.

Haffey and me on an epic powder day in Cortina. I love my Katanas!!

The next weekend I raced GS in Ofterschwang, Germany. I started number 30, which was such an exciting position to be in! I have worked so hard to be a world-class GS skier, and just having that bib on at the start made me feel like, “oh my gosh, I am one of them.” Pretty cool feeling. Anyway, I didn’t exactly ski like a world-class GS skier in my run, making a significant mistake in the middle of the top flat, and I failed to qualify for second run. Another big disappointment, but the way I look at it, is that was basically my first bad GS race of the season. And I think everyone is entitled to have a bad day.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 10:01 am and is filed under January 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.