Just finished up with the World Cup in St. Johann, Austria and it was the coolest race that I’ve ever been in by far. On Friday night the qualification race went really well for me and I finished in first place. My goal for the finals was to break the top ten but unfortunately I got knocked out in the quarter finals. I ended up 13th overall which is my best finish yet so I’m pretty pumped about that.
The race didn’t start until 8:00 at night and there were probably about ten thousand people in attendance. Sitting at the start, you could only see a hundred yards to the first jump before it dropped off down the pitch. You couldn’t see the finish area at all and it felt like the only people there were the ones up at the start with you. However, the smoke from the fireworks and the techno music bumping reminded me of the thousands of drunken Austrians raging at the bottom of the mountain. It was so cool to cross the finish line in my first heat knowing I advanced to the next round and at the same time be surrounded by the crazy scene taking place.
The next round didn’t go too well for me as I got hung up on the first jump and dropped back to fourth. I tried to make some good turns and catch up to the guys in front but ran out of real estate. FIS did a great job putting on the event and everyone had a blast after the race listening to the music and hitting up the beer tent.
The next day we continued on to Alpe d’Huez, France where the next race takes place. It took us most of the day to get here but we finally made it after a couple of detours. We trained on the course today and it has to be the most fun course I’ve ever skied. I was able to get five runs during the training time so I feel like I know the course very well and I’m confident I can do well in the qualifications tomorrow. Also, I recently found out that I qualified for the Winter X-Games in Aspen so I’m pumped about that. They take place in Aspen, Colorado January 25th through the 29th so it should be a pretty good time.
