Last time I checked in I was leaving the World Cup Finals in La Plagne. Since then I have been enjoying some down time at home in Aspen. I’ve spent some quality time with Riley and Annalisa. They are big fans of Hannah Montana so I had to take them to see the movie. Riley shined in her school play. Annalisa has been doing well, but she did have an episode with her feeding tube. It was enough of a scare that Kate had to take her to the hospital in Denver. She’s doing well now and is excited for summer to come along.

I managed to get away for a week in Maui with my girlfriend, Suzanne. What a great trip. We surfed, played golf, and hung out on the beach. It was crazy how many people were there also. I ran into my brother, Chris, and his family for a day. Then my Ski Cross teammate, Langely McNeal, and her friend, Lindsey Woodcock, managed to fly over from Kauai to hang with us for a day. And we also got to see Josh Wiltz, the Canadian ski tech, and Ben and Alice Black, coaches at AVSC that I used to coach with. And we just happened to be on the same flight home with Resi Stiegler. All in all, it was a great vacation. Apparently Maui is a popular spot for skiers in April.

Next stop is California. I’m supposed to do a photo shoot for NBC Olympics in LA and we have a training camp at Mammoth. I’ll let you know how that goes.

La Plagne is an expansive resort in the heart of the Savoie region of France. It was the Bobsled site during the 1992 Albertville Olympic Games. But this year they turned to Freestyle to host the 2009 World Cup Finals.

The U.S. mogul team had a rough go in their Dual Mogul event. They had a stacked team ready to score but they ran into some bad luck and got skunked on the podium. However, Hannah Kearney still walked away with a crystal globe signifying her overall mogul victory.

Then it was my turn to try and pull off a victory of my own. The overall was out of my grasp but I still had a chance to take 3rd away from Lars Lewen. So there were two races going on. The big race was between Thomas Krauss and Chris DelBosco for first place and then there was a smaller race between Lars Lewen and me for 3rd place.

DelBosco closed the gap on Krauss in the race in Meiringen and he was the only one that had a shot at defeating the Ski Cross Champ. He came up short, however, catching his buckle on the B-net and crashing in the final. Thomas Krauss managed to defend his World Cup title. It was not an easy feat considering how strong the competition was this year.

Just like every race since the middle of February I felt ready for a great showing. My body was in good shape and I was skiing well. I was the 4th seed based on my overall ranking for the season so I had good gate picks. I had a great start in the first round and won the heat by a good 20 meters. Then in the quarterfinal I missed the timing of the start and it was all over. It was one of my worst starts all year. I had the best start position and I was 4th to the hole shot. Then I followed Stanley Hayer and Xavier Kuhn down the mountain hoping for them to make a mistake so I could capitalize and pass. Xavier made a great pass on Stanley. Then Stanley made an amazing pass on Xavier to get the transfer spot.

I was left in the back kicking myself for making such a terrible start. That was it. The year was over. I set out to win the World Cup overall and I ended up 4th. It was a respectable finish. But I did have something to celebrate. I finished this year healthy. For the first time in 3 years I walked away without crutches or slings. I didn’t have to make any appointments at the Steadman Clinic. It was great.

I am now set up to have a strong off-season to prepare for the upcoming Olympic Games in Vancouver. Life is good.

After the race in Grindelwald was canceled, the Swiss organizers thought we had a chance to make it up on Sunday in Meiringen. In order to do this they held the original Meiringen race on Saturday. They had great weather for that event. I was optimistic in their chances of pulling off another one on Sunday, but it seems this race was not meant to happen. And considering how things went in this race for me last year,(that’s when I got K.O.’d and separated my shoulder in a nasty crash) I was not about to argue.

After the 30 minute trip up to the ski area, starting with a tram, and then a long gondola ride, we found ourselves completely mired in fog. It was so thick you could barely see your hand in front of your face. The word of the day was vertigo. We went for a free run and the only thing I could feel, besides the snow under my feet, was gravity. This stuff was thick.

The fog did clear a bit by noon and it looked like we still might get a race off. Unfortunately the weather did a number on the course conditions and, when we took our training run, we found some huge holes. In fact, I buried my right foot in the hole, which gave me a nice sprained ankle. No matter, pain is just one of the factors of this sport.

After about 10 athletes ejected out of their bindings they decided to do something about it. After about 2 hours of solutions we ran out of time and they finally decided to cancel the race. After wasting two full days trying to get this race off it was time to come to terms with the fact that it wasn’t going to happen.

Now the U.S. Ski Cross team is back down to 1. I’m going to La Plagne, France for the World Cup finals. I’m currently tied for 4th with Andreas Matt in the overall standings. The battle for first is between Thomas Kraus and Chris DelBosco. I have no shot at it now. If I win I could overtake 3rd over Lars Lewen. If I don’t win I could still get to 4th on my own and hold that position. There are a lot of guys not too far behind me so I still have to fight for everything I can get.

I’ll check in again from La Plagne so stay tuned.

UGGHHH! Every time I think I’m ready to make a breakthrough everything goes to hell. I was optimistic about the race here in Meiringen-Hasliberg, but it turned out to be my worst finish all year.

Qualifying was a disaster and, considering I had a near perfect run, I have to blame it on the wind. It seems every time there is swirling wind I end up getting the head winds. So I ended up 22nd in qualifying.

Still, I was ready to make the best of it and see how I could do in the final heats. Unfortunately my round of 32 was a nasty one. I had Lars Lewen(last year’s winner), Brady Leman(a loose cannon), and Eric Iljans(a real thorn in my side this year).

I had a good start and was out of the gate first but I got squeezed out by the Swedes at the first turn. Then I had to battle with Brady in the same turn. It looked like Brady was going to take us both out but I pushed him out of the way and it looked like he was gone. Then I focused on Eric. I got pulled into his draft at a rapid clip and I thought I was going to do an easy slingshot pass, but his skis were running well.

I tried to pass Eric on the outside but I couldn’t do it. We were going side by side across the middle flat while Brady was quietly pulling into our two-man draft. As we hit the biggest air on the course we were 3 wide. Eric had more air than me and, because he also got forced wide by Brady, he landed on my skis. It messed him up and it messed me up. Brady capitalized on our tangle and he shot right by. There was no catching up at that point and I ended up 4th in the heat. I was 27th on the day.

Andreas Steffen won the race in his home country with Chris DelBosco in 2nd, and Xavier Kuhn in 3rd.

For the overall, DelBosco closed the gap on Krauss who went out in the quarter-final. I am now tied for 4th with Andreas Matt with the 4 big points I pulled in today, and Lewen is in third.

We have our make up race from Grindelwald tomorrow on the same course. Hopefully the Ski Cross gods will be on my side.

It looks like I dodged a bullet. We had less than perfect weather yesterday for the race in Grindelwald. The course builder put rollers in questionable parts of the turns that made it difficult just to get through the course on your own without wiping out. Due to the weather we were forced to pack the training, the qualifying, and the heats into one day. It did not go well.

Because of all the new snow the course conditions were less than desirable and the course eroded quickly. The women were able to get through their qualifying run on time but not without incidents. The men were then rushed through a training run with a lot of guys missing gates and blowing out.

Then we lined up for our qualifying run and the World Champion, Andreas Matt, was first out of the gate. His ski hooked up on the “questionable roll”, he did a lincoln loop and landed on his back.

After a helicopter took him to Interlaken we started up again. There were multiple holds due to people beating it in.

My run was great with one exception. We didn’t have a lot of time to look at the course so I actually lost where I was for a moment. I jumped on a bump where I needed to press and flew way past where I wanted to land. I completely chundered the turn and lost a good 1.5 seconds at least. I was about 1.8 off the leader.

I then watched a lot of guys come down and beat me. There also were a lot more people that beat it in and the helicopter was getting a lot of use.

At about 2:30 there were still 35 guys left in the field when they decided to cancel the race. This was great news for me because I boned the qualifier so badly. All of the guys that I am in a battle with for the overall were now sitting 1..2..3..4 and I was sitting in 23rd. I needed to either race the heats, which was looking impossible at that point, or I needed them to cancel the race before all the men got down. If they all finished then the qualifier would count as the race.

The officials finally decided to cancel the race due to the time of day and the conditions of the course. I was shocked because it was the first time I had seen them cancel a race due to safety. Maybe the officials do have a soul. Or maybe they have been reading my blog.

In any case, it worked out and we may have a make up race in Meiringen. I’ll check in from there.

The team is back together.  I was on my own for the World Cups in Norway and Sweden and then Jake and Daron joined me in Inawashiro.  Daron is finished for the year.  He only wanted to do the races in North America and the World Championships.  So he is now back in Truckee helping Michelle with the twins.  Now we have Jake, JJ Johnson, Biche Rudigoz, John Teller, and Langely McNeal (the only girl).  We are on our third, and final trip to Europe.  This trip takes us through Grindelwald and Meiringen, Switzerland.  Then we head down to France again for the World Cup Finals in La Plagne. 

This trip looks promising.  The Swiss Alps have gotten dumped on and there is tons of snow.  It’s snowing right now but it’s supposed to clear up tomorrow.  It looks like there will only be one training run tomorrow before qualifying so that ought to be interesting.  We usually have 3 or 4 runs before qualifying. 

This is the race last year where I was taken out by Tommy Eliasson in a high speed wreck.  You can see it if you go to YouTube and look up casey puckett crash.  I separated my shoulder and got knocked out.  The medics thought I broke my neck so they put me in a helicopter to Interlaken.  So I’m back at the scene of the crime.  I have no fear.  In fact, I’ve come back to redeem myself and take the win here. 
 
The course looks tamer than last year.  The jumps are smaller and more forgiving.  We’ll see what the speed is like tomorrow.  All the new snow will probably make it slow. Right now I am fifth in the overall standings.  I am not far off second but there is a gap up to first.  It would be hard to win the overall but not impossible.  I’ll give you a detailed breakdown of the points standings in my next post.  
 
I will post frequently for the next two weeks so stay tuned.

I won a FIS World Championship gold medal in Slalom when I was 18 years old. It was a junior medal but it was still a World Champs medal. Inawashiro marked the 4th time in my career where I competed in a FIS “senior” World Championships event and it was probably my last. Most of the components of what it takes to win a race were coming together. But after all is said and done, the World Champs gold medal, which was so close I could taste it, slipped away for good.

Here is a rundown of the heats:

1st heat (round of 32) – Audun Groenvold, Andreas Matt, Toshiyuki Doi, and me. There is a gate malfunction where the middle two hinges open but not the outer ones. All of us barge, then the gate opens and I am the first one out. I win the run. There is a protest by Audun and it sticks. We have to take a rerun. On the rerun I am third out of the gate behind Matt. Matt goes wide in the first corridor and opens the door. I take it and we fly off the second jump together. I have so much speed that I pass Matt and Audun within two turns on the steepest part of the pitch (not a likely place to pass). I win the heat.

2nd heat (Quarter-final) – Andreas Matt, Lars Lewen, Hiroomi Takizawa, and me. I have the last pick of the gates and I am on the outside. I’m starting against Matt – the fastest qualifier, Lewen – the fastest starter and winner of the last World Cup, and Takizawa, hometown favorite and 2nd at the X-games. From the outside gate I win the start. I lead the heat and win the run. It’s at this point I believe I can take the gold. I haven’t beaten Lars in one start all year and I beat him today from the outside.

3rd heat (Semi-final) - Andreas Matt, Thomas Zangerl, Olivier Fabre, and me. This heat looks easier than my 1st heat so I’m feeling good about things. Unfortunately I missed my pre-jump out of the start and I fall behind. I’m in 3rd behind Matt and Zangerl going into the corner. I think I’m going to pull the same pass on Matt as I did in the first run but he remembers the pass I made on him. He pinches me off at the gate and sends me wide where I almost go out of the course. That’s where Olivier passed me and put me into 4th. At that point I lose my speed and I can’t make it up. I watch Matt make some mistakes in the air and realize that if I had been patient and waited to make the pass on the bottom I would have been successful and I would have gone on to the final. My hopes of winning the gold vanish and I go up for the consolation round.

4th Heat (Small-final) – Patrick Koller, Olivier Fabre, Markus Wittner, and me. I win the start. I win the run. No problem.

The winner of the race turned out to be Andreas Matt, followed by Thomas Zangerl, and Davey Barr in 3rd. Chris Del Bosco was 4th and I was 5th.

5th place is a very good result and I skied incredibly well and overcame huge odds to get there. Unfortunately, only 1st, 2nd, and 3rd matter in the World Championships. No one will remember how well I skied, or the great passes I made, or the fact that I beat Andreas Matt in 3 heats before he went on to win the gold. But I will.

After two days of flying and one night in L.A. we finally arrived in Inawashiro, Japan for the 2009 Freestyle World Championships. Ski Cross is the first of the events to be run here so we wasted no time in getting started. We arrived last night at 11:30P.M. and we had our first training run today at 1:00. We have one more training run tomorrow and then we race on Monday.

The course here is fast and the air is big. It’s not unlike a super g. There are big jumps we hit at high speeds. It has fun written all over it! I don’t think start position will be a big consideration because it is a long straight a way to the first turn. Fast skis will definitely be important out of the start. Then the middle is the super g portion of the course where you just want to ski well. Then if you come off the pitch clean there are many passing opportunities on the bottom. It should be interesting.

It feels like spring here with warm weather, blues skies, and slushy snow. I’m psyched because my teammates, Daron Rahlves and Jake Fiala have joined me again after skipping the races in Scandinavia. We’re hungry for some medals. It’s not going to be easy but we can do it.

We are at a time in Ski Cross where there are no byes. Often times it’s just as hard to advance from the round of 32 as it is to be in the top two in the final. That’s why I am pleased to get a 4th place today. I came to Sweden with a banged up knee and really banged up ribs. Starting the race was in question.

Today my skis were running great and I had a couple things go my way up to the final. Kuhn lost his ski in the 1st round to open the door for me. Davey Barr hooked Niederer’s tail at the bottom of the course to open the door for both Schmid and myself. Then Zangerl missed a gate in the semi-final, which put me into 3rd, but then I made an awesome pass on Krauss and Schmid to win the semis.

Then we got into the final and I was fourth into the first corner. I was ready to bide my time and smoke everyone at the bottom because that’s where I was making all my passes. Unfortunately, around the 2nd corner, I was too fast and came up next to Del Bosco. He hit some bumps on the inside and got thrown wide. At that point I had no choice of where to go. I got pinned between the fence and Del Bosco. As you can imagine I ended up on my back again and he went on to get 2nd. I did feel his move was dirty but I can’t be sure. I felt he could have finished his turn and we would have all been on our feet. That’s not how it shook out however. I am still happy with my fourth.

Now I’m looking at a rediculous trip to Japan. Instead of going east we’re going west. So we go Oslo-Frankfurt-L.A. (stay the night in L.A.) – then Tokyo. Our jet lag might be so screwed up that maybe we will be okay when we arrive in Japan. Who knows. I’ll check in again from the orient.

When we arrived in Sweden we hadn’t seen the sun since we left the U.S.  My back was killing me from the crash I had in Voss.  I tore my intercostals in that crash and to this day I have a hard time breathing and it hurts to cough.  I’m getting used to skiing with pain so I plan to race after a lot of ice and anti-inflammatories.

Branaes is a popular ski resort in what feels like the middle of nowhere.  We’re about half way between Oslo and Stockholm and we’re surrounded by what seems like an endless forest.  The mountain doesn’t have a lot of vertical – maybe 1,500 ft. – but it’s a great ski cross course.

After Pablo, our P.T. on the trip, taped up my back, I went up to do my qualifying run.  The tape job worked pretty good but it made me ski a little stiff.  I did the difficult part of the course on the top really well but I boned all of the bottom jumps.  It was not my best run ever.  I ended up 14th.  Considering how I felt two days ago I’m surprised I can even race so I’ll take it.

Anything can happen tomorrow.  If I get good starts and keep focused on course I think I have a chance at making the finals.  I’m sure it will be another battle.  Lars Lewen had the qualifying time today and he looks fired up for a victory on home turf.  The Canadians weren’t as spectacular as they hoped to be.  I saw some temper tantrums in the finish that weren’t pretty.  Thomas Krauss and Andreas Matt had solid times and will certainly be tough tomorrow too.  We’ll see how it goes.