Online content

Brief recap of my races so far this season:

Igls World Cup
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/7841972/elana_meyers_gets_first_world_cup_podium_from_universal_sports/

La Plagne World Cup
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/7869719/elana_meyers_scores_a_top_10_at_la_plagne_from_universal_sport/

Sorry for the delay...back at it!

It's been quite a while since I've blogged (sorry about that)- but quite a bit has happened, so I'll have to attempt to catch you up real quick.  We started World Cup tour with a race in Igls, Austria, where I won my first World Cup medal as a pilot- a bronze with brakeman Katie Eberling.  Prior to that race, I had won 3 World Cup medals as a brakeman in 3 seasons, and I raced with very good pilots as a brakeman- which shows you how difficult it can be to win a WC medal.  Katie pushed great and I was extremely excited to start of the season with a bronze medal.

Bronze for Katie and I in Igls World Cup

We then moved onto La Plagne, France, a track I never slid on as a brakeman and that most pilots had never been on as well.  Katie and I broke a start record, but after quite a troublesome week of training, I was actually happy with my 8th place result- I had my two best runs of the week on race day, and when you're a pilot- that's all you can really ask for.  You can't control the results- so you just have to do the best you can.

Katie and I at the start in La Plagne, France, where we currently hold the start record, 6.40

Onto Winterberg, Germany.   Winterberg is one of my favorite tracks.  It's quite boring- but it is the first European track I slid as a pilot, so maybe that's why I like it so much.  Anyway- after the first heat and some crazy weather- Katie and I were sitting in 6th.  Even crazier weather broke out in the second heat- and I came down after my second run and held my position.  Pilots Sandra Kirasis and Kaillie Humphries were in front of me and happened to be on the wrong side of the snow- and dropped quite low in the ranking despite being 2nd after the first run.  Their dropping moved me up to 4th place, and I ended first half ranked #5 in the world.

Katie and I at the finish dock in Winterberg

Christmas came and went- another post about that later- and now we're back in Europe.  I spent the first week in St. Moritz, Switzerland, skipping the World Cup race in Altenberg, Germany, in order to get more runs in St. Moritz- home of the 2013 World Championships- which are very important for the US team.  Having a good result at worlds means a lot more than any World Cup race- so it was important for us- Jazmine and I- to get extra runs on that track.

Now I'm back in Konigssee on World Cup again- a race this week and one more World Cup race in St. Moritz next week and then I'm back stateside!

I'll do a better job of keeping you updated now though...sorry for the delay!

Double Gold in Konigssee and World Cup

For the last Europa Cup races before World Cup competition, my teammates and I were in Konigssee, Germany, the track where I raced my first World Championships on as a pilot.  I was excited to come back there, but early in the week I found myself facing a great deal of difficulty driving.  I was frustrated all week- just having a really tough time.  I went to one of my coaches, Mike Kohn, a former bronze medal push athlete who turned pilot- just like myself.  He explained to me that what I was going through was completely normal, that all pilots have a great deal of difficulty in their second season- because you feel like it should be easy- but it's just not.  I've been told this by others before, but I didn't think it would happen to me- but it was and continues to.  Coach Kohn though said something that I brought with me into the race- he told me to "just drive."  And that's exactly what I did- I went into the races- and just drove.  I didn't think about anything else- I just drove, and the outcome took care of itself- I walked away with two gold medals with brakeman Katie Eberling and Brittany Reinbolt.

Tomorrow is the first World Cup race of the season.  This past week has been very frustrating indeed, I've been under the weather, and my driving woes continue- very frustrating training runs and I definitely haven't been winning training as far as times go.  The frustrations continue, but all I can do is go into tomorrow's race and do the best I can.  So here we go...first World Cup of my sophomore season...

Silver and Bronze

The first two FIBT races of the season for me were in Igls, Austria- two Europa Cup races.  In bobsled, there are three circuits of racing, the America's Cup, the Europa Cup, and the World Cup.  Each circuit is very competitive, but World Cup is the highest level of all the circuits.  The Europa Cup is a very competitive circuit- as many of the pilots from World Cup compete on it to gain some extra points before the season starts and to get more runs on certain tracks.  For my teammate Jazmine Fenlator and I, we were competing in Igls to do just that- get more points and get more experience, as we are both very young in our careers as pilots.  

The first day of races, I won a bronze medal and was only .03 away from the gold- .03!  Such a crazy small margin, but I was happy with the result, as I had the fastest down time and push time the second run. Day 2, I finished in silver, but it was a less satisfying day.  Although I once again had the fastest push times with Katie Eberling, I was disappointed in my runs.  Despite the outcome of a medal, I still wanted to have better runs.

That's the way it goes sometimes though as a bobsled pilot, some days you can have great runs and end up lower in the rankings, other days you have horrible runs and end up moving up in the world- crazy how that works...but I'm learning- that's bobsled!

Igls, Austria

WOW!  It has been quite some time since I blogged!  I apologize for my lack of updates- but I'll be better now.  The season has officially begun, and I am now in Igls, Austria, for my first two races- Europa Cup races- of the season.  Although I've slid at Igls before, I now have a better understanding of the track and still have a lot of things to work on.  Training has been going ok so far- not as well as I would have hoped, but I'm still learning and prepping for the races on Thursday and Saturday.

So how did I get here?  Team trials were in October, and didn't go so well for me.  The two weeks of team trials were two of the most difficult weeks of sliding for me- sled troubles, determining brakeman for those races, and trying to slide well on top of that!  Team trials didn't go as well as I would've liked- I didn't drive as well as I'd hoped, but I finished as USA 3 and made the national team.

So far this season hasn't gone as well as I would've hoped, but I'm hoping to change things around, and it starts now in Igls.  Wish me luck!  More in-depth updates later!

Push Championships Preview

Next week starts our annual push championship competition and our combine testing.  Although the bobsled track doesn't open until October 10 (my birthday!), this is our first competition of the season.  How are you competing if the bobsled track isn't open?  Well, glad you asked!

Each summer we train- sprinting and lifting- to try to improve our start times.  A start time is the first 50m of the race, where the athletes- both brakeman (aka push athletes) and pilots (aka drivers)- push the sled as fast as they can before hoping in.  The start time is the only accelerator of our sleds, so it's very important this is as fast as possible.  Although both the brakeman and driver push, the driver gets in before the brakeman, and the start time is the major responsibility of the brakeman.

As the push start is the only accelerator in the sport, it is essential to make sure you are improving your start times and getting the fastest pushes possible.  The only way to determine which brakeman is the fastest is to race them against each other.  Ideally, this would be done on ice, however, team trials are fast approaching and there is no ice available- but we must know how the brakeman rank and how fast the pilots are pushing in order to select teams.  So how do we do this?  The answer is push championships...

So the first thing that happens during push championships week is the combine.  The combine is a series of 8 athletic tests to determine your athletic ability and how successful you may be at pushing a sled.  The tests are a 15m, 30m, 45m dash, a 30m fly, a 3 rep squat max, a power clean max, broad jump, and a shot put toss.  Each test gives an athlete a certain amount of points, and then athletes are ranked against each other based on their overall combined score on all the events.  Although the combine is an indication of who the top athletes may be, nothing compares to pushing- which is why we then have the push competition.

For push championships this season, we will push in Lake Placid on a dry land push track.  Instead of ice, we push a sled on wheels down a rail system.  We measure out 50m, and take the time when the sled hits that mark.  Each athlete will push the sled by themselves to determine who is the fastest.  Most often, the difference between athletes is only a few hundredths of a second!  It's always a very close competition and a great start to the season to see where everyone is at in their training.  In the video below, you can see me pushing at the push track in Lake Placid- the same one we will use for the push championships.

For the past three seasons I have won push championships- all three years as a brakeman and also last season as a pilot as well.  This will be my first season competing only as a pilot, and I am training hard to take home another title in that division.  For pilots, push championships is the opportunity to show the brakeman that you have been training hard all summer so that they want to push with you when it comes time to select teams for team trials (a process which I'll get into later).  As you can imagine- it's quite a big week coming up, so wish me luck!

RIP Speedy Peterson

I know it has been a few weeks since the death of Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, but I wanted to wait post on this comment because I had to take the time to formulate my thoughts.  I had met Speedy first while training in Chula Vista, CA, for the 2010 Olympics in the summer of 2009.  I had gotten a chance to know a little bit about him, had a few conversations, and we both wishes each other best of luck in making the Olympic team before parting ways.  The picture above was taken during the opening ceremonies, where we met again- excited to see each other having both made the Olympic team, and in joyous celebration!  I remember we were both so elated to be there, and in awe of the moment.  The next time I would see Speedy, it would be the night of my medal ceremony.  While in the green room waiting to walk on stage and accept our medals, Erin and I watched Speedy compete and win his silver medal- such an exciting moment, which made our medal acceptance that much greater having seen another U.S. Olympian win another Olympic medal.  A night later we would meet again at a party hosted by Under Armour, where we would hug and share our medals- both of us wearing them and huge grins!  Speedy was so much in awe in what he had accomplished, and he it was electrifying to be around him.  Turns out that would be the last time I would ever see Speedy...

Speedy's life ended too soon, and so tragically.  I cannot comment about what he was going through, or the exact circumstances of his life, but his death brings many thoughts to mind.  Many people believe that just because you win an Olympic medal your life is great- that because you won a medal, no day in your life should ever be unhappy again; I sure wish it worked like that, but sadly, it doesn't.  The act of winning an Olympic medal is a moment of time in our lives; we are all athletes who compete at the highest level and are recognized in our sport as the best in the world- but that is who we are as athletes, not as people.  God has blessed each of us with a great athletic ability- to be able to perform at the highest level and to glorify Him, as well as our family, country, and friends.  Our athletic accomplishments may define us to many others, but it does not define us as people.  Winning an Olympic medal is a great moment of my life, but it is not my entire life and it does not define who I am.  As I'm not defined by my medal, the medal does not mean that nothing will ever go wrong in my life again.  Sure it was a great accomplishment, but I experience pain and sorrow and loss just like everyone else.  I also experience happiness and triumph unrelated to my medal.  The medal was a moment in my life, but it is not my life.

So why do I bring this up?  I have been asked why Speedy would take his own life if he won an Olympic medal.  To this I cannot say, but I can tell you this- the Olympic medal is a symbol of his accomplishment, but it is not who he was and it was not something that meant he would never feel anything less than glee every day.  He, and all Olympians, are human.  We all experience a variety of emotions.  Although you see us in some of the happiest moments of our lives, you miss the behind the scenes- the daily blood, sweat, and tears, that we experience as athletes- but also as people.

Unfortunately, although we may fly higher, run faster, and lift more than most people, Olympians are not super human.  We experience the same highs and lows of daily life as everyone else.  We are not invincible, we are not made of stone, we are simply human...and that is what makes our accomplishments so great.

Speedy was a great athlete, a great person, but most importantly human.  He experience much tragedy in his life, but is now forever in peace.  I'm blessed to have known him, and I have been truly touched by his life.

RIP Speedy...

In memory of "Speedy" please donate: http://thespeedyfoundation.org/