Second top 10 result for the season

The 7th and 8th ski cross World Cups of the season were held this weekend in Goetschen, Germany.

I was feeling less than ideal for Friday’s qualification race. A few days earlier I came down with a bad head cold; something I couldn’t seem to shake off. I finished a disappointing 18th, just 0.1 of a second from qualifying in the top 16 for finals. The only positive I could take from this was having one extra day to rest and recover, and get healthy for the second World Cup held on Sunday.

Yesterday I had my best ever qualifying result on World Cup. I qualified in fifth place, just 0.63 of a second behind the leader (a massive improvement from over two seconds behind in the qualification race on Friday!) I was extremely happy with how I skied and where I was placed, and finally a boost of confidence and adrenaline reminded me why I love competing, and why I love this sport.

(The Aussies: Scott Kneller, Brooke Dunleavy, Sami Kennedy Sim and myself) 

(Qualifications, Sunday) 

 (Excited after qualifyng in 5th)

For finals, my first quarter final heat included Marielle Thompson of Canada, Hedda Berntsen of Norway and Andrea Limbacher of Austria. All three have won World Cups, with Limbacher still overjoyed from her first World Cup victory yesterday. I had an average start, but made a good come back over the first roller section and jumped into third place. I fought the entire way down, trying to make a pass into second, and got very close a few times. The conditions were tough; soft and extremely bumpy. I just couldn’t manage to quite pull off the pass. I was happy with how I skied, and although I couldn’t match my 5th place in qualifications, I finished up in 10th overall. This is my second best result ever on World Cup, and my second top 10 World Cup result of the season. I am now placed 17th place in the overall World Cup rankings, currently one spot better than I finished last year. There are still three World Cups to go until the end of the season, so hopefully a few good results can push me up in the rankings. 

 (Talk about a splash of colour! Noriko Fukushima and I)

I am now on my way up to Sweden where I will race in the next World Cup event in Branäs. Hopefully this momentum from Germany will continue up in Sweden, and I can produce another personal best result.

(Cows up on the training hill in Austria) 

(Antonio in fine form)

The video blogs are back!

After an 8-day mid-season break in Melbourne, I have finally had time to put together another one of my famous video blogs. This time, I have Winter X-Games footage to add to the video, which definitely makes this exciting!

The break at home was great. Just enough time to soak up some sun, see family and friends, hit the gym and even get a surf in!

I am now back in Europe, getting ready for the next World Cup Ski Cross which is in Goetschen, Germany. I am feeling well resting, and looking forward to getting back into racing!

Enjoy the video.

11th at Blue Mountain

At Blue Mountain World Cup this weekend, I finished in 11th place. In my first quarter final heat I was up against Marielle Thompson of Canada, Katrin Ofner of Austria and Anastaysa Chertsova of Russia. It was a fight all the way down for second position between myself and Ofner, but in the end she took the lead by a couple of metres an beat me to the line. Thomposon and Ofner ended up finishing first and second in the final, with Katrin Mueller of Switzerland in third. 

(Qualifications)

(Quarter Finals with Thompson of Canada and Ofner of Austria)

There were masses of fans at the race, including plenty of school kids, which was great! They made us feel like superstars!

(Anton Grimus and I enjoying meeting the locals)

I am now on my way home for a 8-day break. Looking forward to getting in the surf, and soaking up the rays! We then head back to Europe for the next World Cup, which is in Germany.

X Games Finals

After a great lead up to X Games finals, I was looking forward to skiing the track head-to-head. The sun was shining yet again, and this time the bottom of the race course was surrounded by spectators and fans ready to watch some action! Unfortunately when I actually got in the start gate ready for the first semi-final, nerves somehow paralysed me. I think I was over-nervous and over-anxious, and I just didn't race as aggresively as I usually do. I finished the semi final in 5th, and the small final in 5th, putting me in 11th overall.

Although I was disappointed with how I performed in the finals, I have taken many positives out of the X Games experience. The track was incredible; a complete adrenaline rush. I think any ski cross course from now on will feel like a kids track compared to X Games!

Here are a few great shots taken on the day by Nico Rienaecker. Thanks for the photos!

(The final jump at X Games. I'm in the red bib and green pants)

I am now in Blue Mountain, Canada, for the next World Cup. We have just had qualifications, and I finished in 10th. Finals are tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to giving it everything!

(Qualifications at Blue Mountain. Photo taken by Andrew Logan)

PS- A video blog from the season so far is on it's way!

Day 1 at Winter X Games, Aspen

So I have survived my first day on the Winter X Games ski cross track!

Yesterday would have to be up there as one of the best days skiing of my life. Big call, I know! It wasn’t because of freshly groomed crisp corduroy runs on a bluebird day, or waist deep powder (which usually takes the cake!) It was simply because I skied the most well built, fast, scary, adrenaline pumping and rewarding ski cross track of my life. Plus I got to ski it with the best ski cross athletes in the world.

When I headed up for our first inspection at 11:30am, I’m not going to lie, I was very nervous! The kind of nerves that make your stomach churn and butterflies fly. After a good look at the course, I decided the best thing to do was to section the course, and gradually build it up until I skied it full length. Unlike most world cup courses which last from 50 seconds to 1 minute 10, this course is about 1 min 40 seconds. A real leg and lung burner! Plus we’re up at 3,000m, so that adds to the fatigue. By the end of the day I was happy with my training runs, and looking forward to skiing it again the next day!

(Karolina of Poland and I excited to ski the course)

(The Swiss girls, Sanna and Katrin, and I)

The atmosphere here in Aspen is incredible. There’s such a positive buzz in the air. Everyone’s excited to be here, and looking forward to having fun competing on the course.

I am extremely happy that I ballsed up and made the decision to come and compete at X Games. The easier and safer option would have been to stay with the Australian team and train in Europe, but I figured that this is an opportunity that doesn’t come around often, and it has been a goal of mine since I made the switch to ski cross in 2009. So I am here totally solo. I jumped on a plane, rented a car, booked accommodation and I am a party of one! Great thing is I know every ski cross athlete here, plus a few other Aussies in different events, so I don’t feel alone at all.

Here is a sneaky peak into the 2012 Winter X Games ski cross course. The sun was out for our first day of training, and snow conditions couldn't have been any better! In this head cam video, you will see Marielle Thompson of Canada and myself take on the track, enjoying every second of it!

Qualifications are on Friday to determine the ranking of the top 12 girls. We are then split into two heats of six, where we will fight it out for the X Games title at 12pm on Sunday (US Mountain Time). Catch all the action on ESPN, either on TV or live on the internet.

Now for a few pictures of the course....

(The 12ft ledge drop start)

(A bordercross rider takes on the gap jump)

(A view of the gap jump in inspection)

(The butter box)

(You wouldn't want to be going to slow over this thing!)

(The intimidating in-run into the final jump)

(If I'm 174cm tall, how big is this thing?!?)

PS- A big thank you to Kyle and the team at Surefoot, Aspen for helping me out with boot work last minute! And to Andrea for so generously putting me up in her condo in Snowmass. Appreciate the support from everyone!

Next stop... X Games!

So tomorrow the much anticipated X Games journey begins.

I am flying solo from Munich to Aspen, where I will spend the next week having the experience of a lifetime. I have been dreaming about competing in X Games pretty much since I switched to the sport. It is basically the epitome of racing ski cross, or any extreme winter sport for that matter. It's something I am doing totally on my own, and I'm feeling confident and ready for a bit of an adventure!

The ski cross finals will be held on Sunday 29th, at 12pm (US Mountain Time Zone). Catch all the action on Eurosport or ESPN.

7th in Les Contamines World Cup

I can finally stop to take a breath after the past 11 days of non-stop action. This time of the season for the World Cup ski cross athletes is jam packed with racing and travel. Three World Cups back-to-back in 11 days, as well as over 15 hours of driving is a massive feat!

After my somewhat ‘unlucky’ world cup race in St. Johann, we drove over 10 hours from what felt like one side of Europe to the other (Austria, through Switzerland, to France). The next World Cup was in Alpes D’Huez. This track is renowned for being a ‘gliders’ course. Mellow terrain, not ultra technical, with some big floaty jumps… definitely a fun course to ski! It  almost feels like a roller coaster ride on skis. After training on the course in beautiful bluebird conditions, I was pumped and ready to go for qualifications. Half way down my quali run, out came the dreaded yellow flag, meaning course hold. The racer before me, Sasa Faric from Slovenia, had a massive crash off the final jump, and was in no condition to move herself off the course. I got a skidoo to the top and had a re-run. I skied well, however being a wax race (and my skis were basically skied out after the one run), I just didn’t carry the same speed as I did in the first run. Looking at my split times afterwards, my first run was fast and would have qualified me for finals had I not made any mistakes in the last 20 seconds of the course. Pretty frustrating, but hey, that’s life! Luck just didn’t seem to be going my way at all this season!

(Sunrise in Alpes D'Huez)

(Above the clouds)

Turning a negative into a positive, I made the most of the sunny bluebird weather on finals day, and went free skiing before the race. Not something we actually get to do all that often whilst we’re racing.

(Enjoying the sun in Alpes D'Huez)

(The diet of athletes whilst in France....)

Next stop, Les Contamines, France (where it happened to be "crochet-week"). This was my fifth year here (how times flies!), and was actually where I competed in my first ever ski cross World Cup in 2008. This year the course was water injected, making it unbelievably icy and technical; something I thought I could use to my advantage given my alpine background. I skied very well in training, and despite making some mistakes in the qualification run, finished in 15th position. Finally, a spot in finals! 

(Crochet week in Les Contamines! My Oma would love this...)

(Excited to qualify for finals)

(Official bib draw in the town centre)

(The Aussie team with our stylin' Les Contamines freebee hats)

In my quarterfinal heat, I was up against two Frenchies and a Polish. Because I was the slowest qualifier of the heat, I had no choice in start gate. I fired out of the start fighting for my life, and jumped straight into second position behind Alizee Baron of France. I fought the entire way down to finish in second place. Little did I know that the other two girls had a collision higher in the course and weren’t even behind me at all. In the semi finals, I didn’t have a great start and was in third place, until a silly mistake put me back in fourth. Unfortunately not fast enough to make the big final, but I still had a chance to fight for a place between 5th - 8th in the small final. In the small final I got caught up with Marte Hoie Gjefsen of Norway out of the start. I managed to get passed her and jump into second place behind Hedda Berntsen of Norway. Half way down I slipped on the ice and lost my momentum, giving Marte the chance to pass me. I finished the race in third, placing me 7th overall.

(Quarterfinals. I'm in the blue helmet / green pants)

(Through to the semi-finals)

(7th place finish)

I’m very excited to have my first top-8 world cup result. I knew it was there somewhere; I just had to drag out the animal in me! Given the result, I have been invited to compete at the Winter X Games, which are in Aspen, Colorado in late January. This has always been a goal of mine, and something I’ve very excited to be apart of. It is like the Winter Olympics of extreme sports. I leave for Aspen on January 23rd, and will be there for 6 days before I head to Blue Mountain, Canada, for the next World Cup.

Will keep you posted. The next few weeks are going to be big!