World Cup Season Has Ended

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.

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

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!

World Cup Lake Placid

Jamie and I on the podium after our 6th place finish

I apologize for such a delayed post!  In December, I had the privilege of racing in the World Cup race in Lake Placid!  Upon Erin's retirement, I was named USA 3 and qualified for World Cup by racing with Megan Hill in Winterberg (see previous post).  After a quick week in Winterberg, we headed back stateside and I raced in my first World Cup race as a pilot with development pilot and former national team brakeman Jamie Greubel.  Although my runs were not the prettiest, we finished 6th- a great finish for someone who has only been driving for 4 months!  After this finish, I retained my status as USA 3 and will be headed to Igls, Austria, after the New Year to compete in World Cup Race #5.  After that, I will then head to Winterberg, Germany, for another World Cup race, before returning stateside to compete in Jr. World Championships.  The ultimate goal for this season is to compete in World Championships, and I can make that goal a reality by winning Jr World Championships.  Even if I'm unable to win Jr. Worlds, I can still race World Championships- but then it goes to a committee decision, and that decision can go any way.  The goal is to qualify myself, and not leave anything up to decision.  I'm so thankful for the opportunity to race World Cup my first season as a pilot, and so honored to represent my country at the highest level of bobsled.

Jamie and I getting ready to push off

7th and 8th

Megan and I had a great time in Winterberg!  We placed 7th and 8th, and had the 5th and 4th fastest pushes  for both races.  Although she hurt her quad, Megan pushed awesomely, and I can't wait to see what's next for her as she continues her development.  Megan had many firsts, including the first time to Germany, and she had the opportunity to eat many new foods.  I felt like a big sister, showing my little sister the ropes.  She handled everything- all the challenges we faced- like a pro and I'm so proud of her.

Janis Kipurs was my coach, with the help of the Latvian team and their coaches.  Thanks to Janis, we made a connection with the Latvian team and was able to share video with them.  I learned so much on this trip about bobsled and driving and I owe a lot of it to the Latvian team and to Janis.

As for the races, from my perspective, the first race was a good race, the second race- horrible.  People have told me that I am too hard on myself, but I expected to be in the top 6 for the second day, and I had the ability to be there.  I drove poorly, which was more upsetting than where I actually finished.  If I drove well and still finished 8th- then I got beat, but I drove poorly and finished 8th- and beat myself.  Still reeling to return to Winterberg to fix my mistakes, but that will have to wait til next season.

As for now, I'm back in Lake Placid getting ready for the World Cup race here this week.  Thanks to Megan, I was able to qualify for World Cup and will now race as USA3.  I'm completely excited to be racing World Cup in just my first season, as it's quite an honor.  I'm nervous as well, my driving ability will really be tested now, but also excited.  I have no idea what to expect, except as always- to have some fun...so here we go- Lake Placid!

Winterberg!

I'm sitting next to a warm fire here in Winterberg blogging and trying to fight the strong urge to fall asleep. My brakeman, Megan Hill, my coach, Janis Kippurs, and I arrived to Frankfurt, Germany this morning at 7:30am, got our rental truck (which is a standard, meaning only Janis can drive lol), and made the 130km drive to Winterberg.  After a delicious lunch, Megan and I opted to take a nap- which was glorious, but left me wanting more.  We decided to get the blood moving a bit and did a warm-up, and then headed down to dinner, and now I'm sitting here trying to keep my eyes from closing as I don't want to be up at 4am!

We start sliding on Monday, we get 6 runs and then two races- not a lot of time to learn a new track in a new sled.  We are borrowing a sled from the Latvian team, something I am very thankful for as it's nice to be able to build a partnership between nations.  We pick up the sled tomorrow (Sunday) and set it up and get it ready to go for training on Monday.  I'm pretty nervous, but I have watched the point of view video for Winterberg a million times and have spoken to a few different drivers about lines.  Tomorrow we'll also go to the women's luge race and watch some sleds, as well as walk the track, to get an idea about what is about to happen.

I'm super excited to be sliding on a European track in my first year of driving, but the competition is stiff here.  Of course, competing against my fellow Americans is always stiff competition, but here- you have a bad run, it's over.   There's not many new drivers in this race, most of the drivers I will be competing against have been to Winterberg many times, where I have been 3 times as a brakeman, and never as a driver.  I'm excited none the less, but I have no idea what to realistically expect for a result.  I know my coach, Janis with a Soviet bloc background, always expects the win, but realistically, the first goal is to get down and qualify for the Lake Placid World Cup.  Of course I want to win, what athlete doesn't, but I am realistic and know it's a lot easier said than done.  That being said though- I'm up for the challenge.

So here we go...Winterberg...

GOLD in Calgary

Last week we drove up to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for race #3 of America's Cup.  I am pleased to report that Optimus Prime (sled), Katelyn Kelly (brakeman), and I were successful and took home the GOLD!  This is actually only the second bobsled race I've ever won, and hopefully not my last.  My first run was super fast, and thank goodness it was because the second one was a whole 7 tenths slower!  That's not very consistent in bobsled terms, but that's what beginning driving is all about.  My goal for every race is always the same, to have two good consistent runs, and even though I won this race I didn't accomplish my goal of having two consistently good runs.  I have so much to learn as a driver, but I'm glad I still got the W today. Onto Winterberg, Germany!

Long Overdue Update

The season is here and a lot has happened!  We had two team trials in Lake Placid, and I won the first one. The second race I crashed the first run, but according to criteria I was granted two more runs and at least was able to finish the race, but I still finished last unfortunately.  For a new driver, taking the run after a crash can be a little nerve-wracking, and as you can imagine- it was not the smoothest run, but I made it down and that's what matters.

We then traveled out to Park City to compete in two America's Cup races.  My brakeman for those races was Katelyn Kelly, and we had some trouble at the start.  Katelyn was named to the national team as a brakeman, and I was fortunate to have her on my team, however, my push bar kept falling while I was pushing which unfortunately resulted in slower push times.  Katelyn did awesome though, and we were able to pull out 4th place finishes both days, each behind 3 Olympic drivers so I'm happy with this result.

Then the crazy occurred...

As you saw from my earlier post, my Olympic driver Erin Pac retired.  Because of her retirement and my recent finishes in races, I have been named USA 3.  This normally would mean that I would get to race on World Cup, however, I am not currently qualified.  In order to qualify, I have to race two races in Winterberg, Germany now, and then will hopefully return and race the final World Cup on the first half in Lake Placid, NY.  As exciting as it is, I am very nervous about how I'm going to make all this happen.  My biggest hurdle right now is finding a sled to rent in Winterberg, a task that is proving to be difficult.  It would be a huge opportunity to race World Cup in my first year as a driver, and I would really like this opportunity- so I'm trying to do everything possible to make it happen- which mostly means a whole lot of prayer!

In my absence, Jamie Greubel will race in the World Cup in Calgary as the USA 3 driver, and Jazmine Fenlator will race in the Park City World Cup as a driver.  I wish them the best of luck, as they are also both new drivers.

But for now, I'm currently in Calgary, Alberta, Canada- and it's cold!  Tons of snow- and we get on the track for the first time tonight.  Although crazy has occurred, I'm excited to learn this new track and get back behind Optimus Prime!

This season is going to be fun...

Sad Day

I know I haven't updated in a while about how the season is progressing, and I will soon- I promise- but I wanted to at least post the link to this article.  Today, my Olympic teammate, Erin Pac, announced her retirement.  Although we always haven't seen eye to eye, I had so many great moments with her in the sport.  I raced my first world cup, my first world championships, and yes my first Olympics.  Not only has Erin greatly impacted my career as a bobsledder, but she has also greatly impacted me as a person.  I have learned so much about the sport and more importantly, about myself, through being her teammate the past 3 years.  Although life for me in bobsled will continue (I have a race in the morning), I can't help but remember the past on this day.  Thanks for everything Erin.

http://bobsled.teamusa.org/news/2010/11/11/olympic-medalist-erin-pac-retires/39467?ngb_id=23