Well, who would have thought!!!
A 2nd place finish in the downhill on Friday,
followed by a 3rd place finish on Saturday. These results have happening in my mind for
many many years, but to actually have them become a reality was almost beyond
words. After my performance on Friday it
was like a giant weight and black cloud off of my shoulders as I finally
conquered the Lake Louise track. I have
always loved racing here but I have never been able to execute my game plan on
race day. This year was different. I
seemed to have this hidden and silent confidence about me. I was happy with my training runs although
none of them resulted in a top 10 finish.
I just knew that I had another gear and was going to do something
special come race day.
When I woke up Friday morning, it was dumping with snow and
looking like a not “ideal” downhill race day scenario but then I thought to
myself why not. I grew in Fernie, which is the land of white fluffy stuff; why
not turn this reality into a positive. I knew that some of the other girls
would be hesitating with the poor visibility and that I could use it in my
favour. The start of the course ended up
being moved down about 25 seconds which changed up the tactics of the course a
little bit. I had been struggling in the upper section in training and now that
that wasn’t a part of the race I felt more confident. I charged out of the start with all the
power, intention and motivation that I could muster up. I skied with determination and drive, which
in turn led me to one of the runs of my life.
The nerve racking part was not so much the actual racing the waiting
game in the finish corral. Having
started 9th, I had a long wait ahead of me to see if my 2nd
place position would hold and it did J I don’t think that I have ever been more
emotional with a result before. This was
something that I had been trying to do for over a decade. It was something that I had been trying to do
to show my appreciation for all the hard work and support that the volunteers,
my sponsors, friends and family had put in each and every year. This was my time to overcome pressure and
expectation and make a dream come true.
Having achieved one of my career long goals, I had a deep
desire to prove to people that it wasn’t just a “fluke”. Saturday morning was cold, clear and one
could call it quite “crisp”. It was an
ideal day for racing in Lake Louise.
This meant that we would be starting from the top and that it would be a
full length, full Lake Louise Downhill. I was excited to race from the top and
I knew that my confidence from yesterday would carry over to the second
downhill. In inspection I really looked
at the top part of the course because I knew that if I was able to nail the upper
part of the course I could do something special. Needless to say, I attacked and charged the
course like never before and came into the finish with a 6 tenth lead. The long waiting game began again. I was
really happy with my run but wasn’t so sure that it would hold up like
yesterday. Well, I can happily say that
I was wrong. I ended up in 3rd
place and racked up another podium finish in Lake Louise. Not only was it probably the tallest podium
finish ever, with Lindsey Vonn and Maria Riesch both on the podium but it was
the same podium and the day before.
The last day of racing in Lake Louise was a Super-G. Unfortunately, I didn’t really step up to the
race plate and had to be happy with 17th place. After my two previous days of racing I could
ask for no more and left the finish with a smile on my face! On the day of the Super-G all 6 Canadian
racers made it into the top 30 which was an amazing feet and a true testament
to the talent and depth of our speed team.
Watch out for us in a couple weeks time in Val D’Isere, France.
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