World Championships
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.