The slalom races in Combloux didn't go too well, I crashed out on my second run, both days! I'm still very frustrated with my inconsistency in slalom, but hopefully it will improve with some more training.
(Combloux CIT slalom)
The next set of races were two GS races in Les Gets, France. I haven't done many GS races this season so I felt more pressure to make them count! The course was long and flat with lots of varying terrain which made it challenging. The conditions were tough, with lots of soft snow and poor visibility. I put together two solid runs and ended up scoring my lowest points in GS to date - 98! The race on Sunday was unfortunately cancelled due to dangerous weather conditions, after one of the early girls crashed and injured herself.
We then went back to Les Houches, for a few days training before heading to Villars, Switzerland for the Aiglon College CIT races. There were three races, two GS and one slalom. I was relieved to have finally finished three races on the belt, my inconsistency in finishing races had put me under more pressure and I seem to be making even more mistakes. In the first GS, I scored my second best points of 105 (still not quite under 100!!) and in the Slalom I scored my lowest points of 108 and came 7th overall.
(Getting ready to race with my Bounce Ball!)
Once we had returned from Villars, it was a quick turn around to leave for Bormio the next day. With the English Alpine Championships being one of the busiest weeks for BSA during the season, I was working with the minis for most of the week and racing myself on the last two days, once the under 10s and 12s had finished. At the beginning of the week we spent most of our time free skiing and learning names as there were lots of new faces. As their first race was a combi we focused on skiing on different sorts of terrain, jumps and powder!
The combi took place alongside the NJR GS and was a mixture of stubbie gates, GS gates, rollers and banked turns with a jump at the end. It was a great course and looked so much fun! There were a few issues with the timing and a couple of delays so it was a long day up the hill for the coaches and athletes but we were thankful for two runs and some great results for BSA!! Their next race was a GS on the World Cup Stelvio piste. The weather was very warm and the rain came in during the first run, luckily the course held up for the minis to get two runs in. The race was tough, especially for the under 10s due the length of the course along with the snow conditions. BSA had the winners for the under 12 in both boys and girls and athletes on the podium in the under 10 age group.
I originally planned to do the two FIS technical races - slalom and the GS but the programme was changed because of the weather, so I entered the two Super Gs and the GS last minute. The Super G went well, I finished 3rd Under 21 and scored my best points. The second Super G was cancelled due to the course cutting up badly and the snow was very soft. The GS didn't go to plan, my ski came off on the seventh gate so I crashed out.
After the BSA children and most of the juniors went back to Les Houches on Friday, five of us stayed in Italy to race in Santa Caterina. We did a double Super G, initially planning to do a GS too. On the first SG race I crashed and injured my knee, I competed in the second run but I skied a round, safe line which resulted with a slow time. I felt like I needed to race the second run just to keep my confidence up! After the races, all of the team were really tired after doing 12 days without a day off so we decided to head back to Les Houches to rest.
(Santa Caterina)
I've now flown home for 5 days to get some rest, hopefully my knee will be better by the weekend and I need to go back to hospital to see a doctor about my thumb. Then on Saturday I head back out for the rest of the season!
x
