Just finished my first World Cup Ski Cross race today in Innichen/San Candido, Italy.  It was such an amazing experience and felt really good to get one under my belt.  In the qualifier, I started 64th and moved up to 12th so I was in a pretty good position for the first round of heats.  I was able to have the second lane pick so I chose the inside right which gave me a straight shot to the first gate but still left some room so I couldn’t get pinched out at the first turn. 

     It was neck and neck out of the gate but I found myself in second place coming into the first turn.  The rest of the run I focused on making good moves over all of the jumps/terrain and made sure to keep a tight line so I wouldn’t “leave the door” open for people to pass.  I ended up in second place which allowed me to move on to the quarter finals.

     The next round was a bit more difficult as I was up against David Duncan, Patrick Gasser, and the 2011 Overal Champion Andreas Matt.  In the quarter final heat, I had some trouble in the start and was fourth place coming into the first turn.  I thought my day was pretty much over but I was able to catch up to the pack midway down the course.  I knew I had to just be patient and wait for the right time to pass.  After a rythm section of rollers, Matt attempted to pass Gasser but leaned in a bit and dropped some speed.  I was able to crank out a turn from the back of the pack and catch up to him over the next jump.  Into the next left handed turn I had a slight advantage and cut him off at the gate. 

   Now I was in third place…I continued to be patient and waited out the next section of the course sticking right behind Gasser and Duncan.  The last pitch was my chance to make speed into the final straight away to the finish so I knew I had to make a clean turn.  As the three of us hammered down the pitch at about 60 mph, I got a little too close to Gasser and the tips of my skis were slapping the tails of his skis.  I suddenly got off balance and spun around to the right but my left ski was still heading in the direction of the track.  I tried to recover but got launched over a double feature and faceplanted off of the course. 

    Initially, I felt pretty bummed out because the guy in second place crashed off of the final jump so if I stayed on my feet I wouldv’e been set to make the semi finals.  However, I’m really happy with my 14th place finish and I’m looking forward to the next race tomorrow.  I’ll have a better start position and a little more experience so we’ll see how it goes.