No, the official FIBT World Cup season still has stops in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Cesana, Italy, but my World Cup season has officially ended, but for good reason. I will skip the races in St. Moritz and Cesana in order to compete in the Jr World Championships in Park City, UT, where I currently am right now.
I know it's been a while since I've blogged, so I'll rehash what has happened on the World Cups I was able to compete in.
First, the team traveled to Igls, Austria, a new track for me. The track is a starter's track- usually the fastest starting teams win. The week started with some unfortunate events, as USA 2 driver Bree Schaaf was taken to the hospital and had to have her appendix removed, and was forced to withdraw from competition. Thankfully, she is now back with the team in St. Moritz and set to compete this weekend. Anyway, for Igls I then had the privilege of racing the World Cup race with Emily Azevedo, Bree's normal brakeman, and also race the Team Event race with Kristi Koplin, an up-and-coming star. Our pushes were plenty fast enough, however, I struggled with this track. This track is not a difficult track to make it down, it is difficult however to be fast and I struggled with the finesse side of driving. I was disappointed in my runs, but we were able to finish 11th in the race, and have the 7th fastest run in the team competition for women's bobsled.
In Winterberg, Germany, I was happy to be back at a track I had driven before. I struggled however, with my own health problems. I woke up one morning and could not move! My hip locked up and would not loosen. After our medical staff went to work, I was able to loosen it up enough so I could slide, but was eventually forced to miss a day of training because of it, which you can hardly afford as a new driver. I learned a lot this week, and had amazing pushes thanks to JennaBree Tollestrup-Brown, but once again I was disappointed in my runs, but we finished 9th- a top 10 finish, but still room for plenty of improvement.
So now here I am in Park City preparing for the upcoming Jr. World Championships. I will be racing with JennaBree and the winner will win an automatic bid to World Championships in Konigssee, Germany. I am hoping to earn my bid through winning this race, as if I do not whether or not I race World Championships will be the decision of a selection committee. I never want to leave anything up to a decision- so it's time to go to work!
BTW- I ended my World Cup stint as the #13 ranked pilot in the world! My ranking will drop as a result of missing the races in St. Moritz and Cesana, but it's pretty cool to end on that note!
Happy Sliding!
I know it's been a while since I've blogged, so I'll rehash what has happened on the World Cups I was able to compete in.
First, the team traveled to Igls, Austria, a new track for me. The track is a starter's track- usually the fastest starting teams win. The week started with some unfortunate events, as USA 2 driver Bree Schaaf was taken to the hospital and had to have her appendix removed, and was forced to withdraw from competition. Thankfully, she is now back with the team in St. Moritz and set to compete this weekend. Anyway, for Igls I then had the privilege of racing the World Cup race with Emily Azevedo, Bree's normal brakeman, and also race the Team Event race with Kristi Koplin, an up-and-coming star. Our pushes were plenty fast enough, however, I struggled with this track. This track is not a difficult track to make it down, it is difficult however to be fast and I struggled with the finesse side of driving. I was disappointed in my runs, but we were able to finish 11th in the race, and have the 7th fastest run in the team competition for women's bobsled.
Curve 2 in Igls, Austria
In Winterberg, Germany, I was happy to be back at a track I had driven before. I struggled however, with my own health problems. I woke up one morning and could not move! My hip locked up and would not loosen. After our medical staff went to work, I was able to loosen it up enough so I could slide, but was eventually forced to miss a day of training because of it, which you can hardly afford as a new driver. I learned a lot this week, and had amazing pushes thanks to JennaBree Tollestrup-Brown, but once again I was disappointed in my runs, but we finished 9th- a top 10 finish, but still room for plenty of improvement.
JennaBree and I blasting off the start in Winterberg
BTW- I ended my World Cup stint as the #13 ranked pilot in the world! My ranking will drop as a result of missing the races in St. Moritz and Cesana, but it's pretty cool to end on that note!
Happy Sliding!
