Val Thorens Double World Cup
Val Thorens have just hosted two World Cups this past week. Every year the quality of the event gets better and better and skiing on this track is so much fun.
I had a bad landing on the second training day and have irritated my sacroilliac joint in my pelvis. I was in an incredible amount of pain and almost pulled out of the race. The Austrian Ski Cross team thankfully let me use their lovely physio Marlene who helped treat my back and I decided to race. I was very slow in qualification and didnt qualify for finals. Whilst part of me wishes that I didnt race, I am happy that I managed to mentally pull myself together and make the qualification run.
I had a rest day whilst my team mate Anton raced in the finals the following day - and he came 9th! I spent my time moving my back and in the water, preparing for the second race the next day.
I placed 13th in the race and had a tough heat with the Gold and Bronze medalists from Sochi. I had a mistake in the start and fought hard and skiied well to try and overtake the girls but couldn't quite get there. It was frustrating to have 'messed up' my usually strong starts, however the skiing in the negative turns and burms was far better than it has been in the past so I am happy with that.
I ran into the Dance family who were skiing in Val Thorens and was great to speak to to some fellow Australians. Andrew took some pictures of me skiing and with his kids. Thank you for coming to watch and see you in Australia!
I am now in Leogang, Austria, our home away from home, where Ski & Snowboard Australia
have a training facility for Alpine athletes. I will spend a few days here before we have a short training camp heading into the World Championships at the end of the month. I look forward to some treatment from our Physio Ash to get me ready for the race!!
Sami :-)
