Wednesday 25 September 2013

Looking back on the Summer season

Finally the summer season has come to an end.

A lot has happened for me, a few ups and downs, but overall it was a great summer. Started off strong, training in the gym went smoothly.
Training camps in Park City, and Hinterzarten, Germany went well and I was feeling confident for the Summer Grand Prix competitions.

Both Germany and France, Team Canada placed 4th in the mixed team competition which consists of 2 male jumpers and 2 female. Both times we were so close to getting onto the podium but there were no regrets because we all did our best out there, all we know is that we will get on that podium next year!

Russia and Kazakhstan was a good trip for me. In the second competition day in Russia I got my new personal best result after finishing in 5th place.
Than moving over to Kazakhstan, also in the second competition there I landed another personal best, this time ending up on the podium with a 3rd place finish!
It was a great day for me, the previous day I got very sick and was not feeling strong or ready but I am glad I pulled things together for the second day of competition.
My last podium in an international competition was back in 2008 where I won the competition in Baiersbronn, Germany. So really its been a long time coming and it feels awesome to be back on the podium.
Also after the Summer season I am now ranked 4th in the World Ranking, which I am super excited about! :D
I've worked hard to get to where I am now, and its pretty good timing as well considering the Olympics are so close. My goal now is to keep up this performance, become more consistent with every jump I take, and perform my best on the Olympic stage.

Saturday 14 September 2013

Nizhny Tagil, Russia

Friday and Saturday we had competitions on the normal hill in Nizhny Tagil, Russia. I was jumping fairly well in the official training but couldn't seem to do the same in the first day of competition where I placed 10th. 

I reset and refocused for the second day of competition. 

The second competition compared to the first day was a little different with wind conditions, my first round jump ended up a little late but was able to adjust myself pretty well entering the air and caught some head wind near the end which helped me fly further leaving me in 7th place after the first round was complete.

Second round than came along, got held on the bar for a while, and when the light turned green my coach didn't flag me till the last few seconds which I knew in my head that wind conditions were not ideal. But I jumped my best, and held on till the very VERY end, which probably wasn't the brightest of ideas because I failed to land in a telemark position. Oops! 
But I did end up having the least amount of headwind out of almost all competitors which gave me extra points added to my total score and in the end had my best GrandPrix result at 5th place! 

I am very happy with my result but there is still more room for improvement so I will be training harder and hopefully improving more in future competition results!

Lastly, thank you everyone so much! I have received many kind words and I am so grateful to have such amazing supporters. I love you guys so much and I hope I can keep making everyone as well as myself proud!