The World Cup season is underway!
After posting last week, I realized that I forgot to include a recap of the World Cup season opener! The easy recap to get out of the way is from the men's side...they were unable to race due to weather and poor conditions. I'm sure they were all frustrated to not get the first start out of the way after an offseason of workouts and prep camps, but ski racing is an outdoor sport and we are at the mercy of the weather. Sometimes, we are able to push through but other times the jury has to make the tough decision to pull the plug on the day due to safety concerns.
The women raced the day before and also encountered some challenging conditions. They were able to move to a lower start and still contest the race. For those who watched it online, you saw how rough it got for them! The best skiers in the world were getting tossed around but continued to fight their way through it. Far too often young athletes get frustrated and give up after some poor turns in a training course, or even worse, in a race. At the highest level, it is rare to see a perfect run. The fastest athlete on any given day is the one who manages to minimize mistakes and recovers the quickest from any bobbles. Take note, WRF athletes!
France's Tessa Worley finished on the top step, besting Italy's Federica Brignone (2nd), and 3rd place on the day was Mikaela Shiffrin! I loved Worley's quote after the race; "It was a huge fight, the slope was very bumpy, very difficult, we couldn't see much. I knew it was going to be a fight with the slope, and all the other girls, so I just wanted to charge and have no regrets at the end." That last line - "charge and have no regrets at the end." Those are words for athletes to live by! How many times have you gotten to the finish and said, "I wish I pushed harder," or, "I didn't go for it because I was thinking too much about finishing."? Worley said she wanted no regrets going into a challenging hill with increasingly challenging conditions. Think about her words when you start training and racing this season. Charge and have no regrets!
There were a couple of other notable finishes on the day as Canada's Val Grenier came from bib 36 to finish 11th and Norway's Kristine Haugen continued to represent the collegiate path finishing 10th. She was a superstar during her collegiate years at the University of Denver and is now starting in the top 30 for world cup GS! Other than Shiffrin, the US contingent didn't fare so well. They are a young group and will undoubtedly learn from their Solden experience. New Yorker Tricia Mangan fought her way down to 63rd which probably wasn't what she was pushing for, but I am sure she will bank that experience and continue to work hard to break into the top 30 to qualify for a 2nd run.
Though I don't have any substantial photo updates, the Westside 6 is still on schedule. The majority of their work last week was on the top and bottom terminals. They are out there everyday and hopefully I will have a bigger update for you next week.
If you haven't done so already, please make sure to register your athlete(s) for the coming season ASAP!
The women raced the day before and also encountered some challenging conditions. They were able to move to a lower start and still contest the race. For those who watched it online, you saw how rough it got for them! The best skiers in the world were getting tossed around but continued to fight their way through it. Far too often young athletes get frustrated and give up after some poor turns in a training course, or even worse, in a race. At the highest level, it is rare to see a perfect run. The fastest athlete on any given day is the one who manages to minimize mistakes and recovers the quickest from any bobbles. Take note, WRF athletes!
France's Tessa Worley finished on the top step, besting Italy's Federica Brignone (2nd), and 3rd place on the day was Mikaela Shiffrin! I loved Worley's quote after the race; "It was a huge fight, the slope was very bumpy, very difficult, we couldn't see much. I knew it was going to be a fight with the slope, and all the other girls, so I just wanted to charge and have no regrets at the end." That last line - "charge and have no regrets at the end." Those are words for athletes to live by! How many times have you gotten to the finish and said, "I wish I pushed harder," or, "I didn't go for it because I was thinking too much about finishing."? Worley said she wanted no regrets going into a challenging hill with increasingly challenging conditions. Think about her words when you start training and racing this season. Charge and have no regrets!
There were a couple of other notable finishes on the day as Canada's Val Grenier came from bib 36 to finish 11th and Norway's Kristine Haugen continued to represent the collegiate path finishing 10th. She was a superstar during her collegiate years at the University of Denver and is now starting in the top 30 for world cup GS! Other than Shiffrin, the US contingent didn't fare so well. They are a young group and will undoubtedly learn from their Solden experience. New Yorker Tricia Mangan fought her way down to 63rd which probably wasn't what she was pushing for, but I am sure she will bank that experience and continue to work hard to break into the top 30 to qualify for a 2nd run.
Though I don't have any substantial photo updates, the Westside 6 is still on schedule. The majority of their work last week was on the top and bottom terminals. They are out there everyday and hopefully I will have a bigger update for you next week.
If you haven't done so already, please make sure to register your athlete(s) for the coming season ASAP!
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