My last racing trip of the ski season involved going to the site of the 2010 Olympics. Whistler was hosting Canadian Ski Nationals and it was my first time back since I raced the 2009 Pre-Olympic World Cups for Team USA.
I was excited to compete at Nationals because the race points could be low enough to help with qualification with Sochi.
The first few days involved testing skis and glide wax while also previewing the courses. My first race was a 10km skate on the Olympic Blue course. The track suited my style of skiing with some hard hills but also good flow and fun transitions. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong skis to race on and the course changed from frozen corn snow to soft wet in a matter of 30min. With the track closed hours before my start time, I was not able to make the best choice on what ski to use. It was doubly unfortunate because I had a great race body on the day. I couldn’t be down for too long because Whistler is a beautiful place and the sun was out everyday!
My next chance at a solid result came the last weekend of the competition week. The 50km skate would be a bruiser, 7 laps on the tough Olympic courses. Right before the start of the race the organizers decided to “salt” the track. This would keep the snow firmer for a longer period of time. The worry was that the snow would get too soft as afternoon temperatures approached 65F. I was blessed with good skis for the 50km and a good body; I finished 7th, 2nd American roughly 14 seconds behind the winner. This was excellent because I received a good FIS point race on the day… calculated based on the strength of the field and the time back from the winner.
I was fortunate enough to have Sven from Gear West come with me to Canadian Nationals. He did a great job waxing skis for me and giving me feeds in the 50km skate. Last time I did Canadian Nationals in 2009 I did not get great feed or wax support and it showed in my results. This time around Sven had everything covered for me.
Based on my results in the Birkie, Engadin and Canadian Nationals 50km, I should only need two more great results next fall and early winter to have a solid chance at making the Sochi team. Now I am back home for the spring and I am enjoying spending some down time from racing and training with my family.
Thinking snow,
Matt
Canadian Ski Nationals
http://skinationals.com/2013/
I was excited to compete at Nationals because the race points could be low enough to help with qualification with Sochi.
The first few days involved testing skis and glide wax while also previewing the courses. My first race was a 10km skate on the Olympic Blue course. The track suited my style of skiing with some hard hills but also good flow and fun transitions. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong skis to race on and the course changed from frozen corn snow to soft wet in a matter of 30min. With the track closed hours before my start time, I was not able to make the best choice on what ski to use. It was doubly unfortunate because I had a great race body on the day. I couldn’t be down for too long because Whistler is a beautiful place and the sun was out everyday!
My next chance at a solid result came the last weekend of the competition week. The 50km skate would be a bruiser, 7 laps on the tough Olympic courses. Right before the start of the race the organizers decided to “salt” the track. This would keep the snow firmer for a longer period of time. The worry was that the snow would get too soft as afternoon temperatures approached 65F. I was blessed with good skis for the 50km and a good body; I finished 7th, 2nd American roughly 14 seconds behind the winner. This was excellent because I received a good FIS point race on the day… calculated based on the strength of the field and the time back from the winner.
I was fortunate enough to have Sven from Gear West come with me to Canadian Nationals. He did a great job waxing skis for me and giving me feeds in the 50km skate. Last time I did Canadian Nationals in 2009 I did not get great feed or wax support and it showed in my results. This time around Sven had everything covered for me.
Based on my results in the Birkie, Engadin and Canadian Nationals 50km, I should only need two more great results next fall and early winter to have a solid chance at making the Sochi team. Now I am back home for the spring and I am enjoying spending some down time from racing and training with my family.
Thinking snow,
Matt
Canadian Ski Nationals
http://skinationals.com/2013/
RSS Feed
