TLDR: World Cup Racing Starts this weekend in St. Moritz, SUI Friday-Sunday on skiandsnowboard.live (live) or Outside TV (on-demand).
I’ve been so excited to race for so long, that it feels a bit surreal that tomorrow is our first downhill training run of the season! It’s also crazy that this will be our first race of the season (we usually have some FIS races or Nor-Am’s before the first World Cup), which is maybe why it hasn’t fully sunk in yet. But I know as soon as we have our team meeting tonight, watch the POV video of the course, and go over the program, that the pre race nerves will start to kick in.
While speed training is intense and requires a lot of focus and energy, racing is an entirely different game. It’s not necessarily more nerves, but definitely more excitement, and of course much more opportunity and consequence leading up to each run.
I remember very clearly last year, before my last World Cup in Kvitfjell, reflecting on the pre race nerves/excitement I was feeling and thinking to myself “do I really like having this feeling?” It was at the end of a very long and taxing season with a ton of pressure, and I still came to the conclusion that yes, I do love the feeling of all the nerves and excitement, all the hard work finally put to the test, the pressure of stepping into the start gate and the vulnerability of finding out in front of the entire ski racing world if your best effort, on that day, will be good enough. Racing is absolutely my favorite part of skiing; more than the traveling, the training, and all the other experiences. It is the thing I think I will miss the most about skiing (whenever I decide to move on). I remember realizing this in Kvitfjell last year and relishing in those final race day nerves of the season.
It feels good to reflect on this before the start of the season, so that I can remind myself, when I do start to feel the nerves, or question my commitment to throwing myself down icy slopes as fast as I can, that I do enjoy this aspect of the sport more than anything else. To be very honest, I love doing things that scare me.
This weekend feels particularly special, because one year ago, I came to St. Moritz thinking it would be my last World Cup ever, and instead I had my best WC result ever getting 17th in the downhill! I’m definitely hoping to have more good results here, but more than anything I’ll be focusing on making the best and fastest turns possible :) My goal for every race and every run, for as long as I can remember, has been to get to the bottom of the course and know that I gave it everything I had. So I will definitely try to do that this weekend!
We have two training runs (Wednesday and Thursday) and we race Super G Friday, Downhill Saturday, and Super G Sunday!
You can watch the races on skiandsnowboard.live (live) or Outside TV (on-demand).
where is Breezy?
Love, love, love your updates from the road — have a great weekend and season! Go OC!