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The desperation tour has come to an end.
Monday, April 23, 2007

We just finished up four days of racing in Finland (2 SL and 2 GS). Roger put together four solid runs to win both of the slaloms, but didn’t score quite what he was looking for (he scored a 12 and a 14, rather than two 12s). Jamie, who came here just for the two slaloms, received her ski bag after the second slalom forcing her to borrow random different skis at the start both days. Her skis showed up the night before the two GS races after two days of countless phone calls and many headaches. She definitely had the worst luck.

As for me, I wasn’t too worried about the slaloms and was happy to see Roger put together some runs. I came to score one GS. The first day of GS, I had a disappointing first run. I came inside at the top of the turn, trying to cut off the line, without giving myself enough room to snap off a powerful turn so I wasn’t fast. But I got fired up for the second run and brought a new tactic. I was looking at the turning gate, rather than the panel, so I could be a bit more patient and put together more powerful turns by having better vision. The different tactics were paying off until I went down on my side and didn’t finish. And just like that GS opportunity 1 was gone.

The second day of GS I was totally fired up – I drew 4 – and knew if I put together two runs I could win. The first run I took the same tactics as the second run the day before and finished in forth 6 tenths out. Then I re-waxed my skis and got ready for run number 2. I pushed out of the gate and put together a solid run. It definitely could have been faster, but what can you do. When I crossed the line I was a full second ahead of the current leader so I knew there was a chance. However, the next four races put down faster times so I ended up finishing in forth a second off the leader.

Eric Lundy, another American at the race put it best, “You can’t put any more quarters into this season.”

Yesterday was my last chance to qualify for the ski team next year. I put everything into in, but it just wasn’t enough. I lost. All three of us are leaving the desperation tour without meeting any of our trip goals. Burnt out and disappointed doesn’t even begin to describe how we feel.

Life will go on, but I hope ALL of your weeks were better than ours, w

posted by Warner at 4/23/2007 02:22:00 PM (permanent link to this post) 0 comments


Scandinavia Bound.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Yesterday morning I had a rather short talk with my coach Sasha Rearick about where I stand with the national team. He quickly explained how imperative it is for someone my age to objectively qualify for the team. I agree; it is vital. But, I had to ask seeing as how I had some good result and missed two months of the season due to an injury. If the season ended today, my ranks would be in the high 70s or low 80s in slalom and 103 in giant slalom (not the 2 sub 100's we're looking for). In the eyes of the ski team you’ve either got it or you don’t so yesterday I booked a flight to Finland. I’m writing this in the car on the drive to the airport.

Roger Brown, Jamie Kingsbury, and I are going to Finland today for 2 slaloms and 2 giant slaloms.

Either way, I’m going to ski next year and we're going to have a great trip. It’s time to pin it for another couple days before our season is complete.

Best Wishes, w

posted by Warner at 4/17/2007 10:12:00 PM (permanent link to this post) 0 comments


US Nationals
Thursday, April 05, 2007

This is going to be a long one so I broke it up into sections…

ARRIVING:
When we arrived in Alaska I was totally pumped. The weather in Whistler was miserable – wet, foggy, and windy – so arriving in Alyeska to a cold blue bird day with great winter snow was a huge treat. Not to mention, the Alaskan Denali is magnificent. The schedule went DH, DH, SG, SL, and GS.

During the first two days of downhill training, I was making constant moves up in the ranks and was actually starting to fine-tune the line (which is a huge part in downhill). The first day of downhill racing was a FIS warm-up race a day before the national’s event. In the FIS downhill, I had a solid day. I took the two airs well, lengthened my arcs of each turn, did some decent gliding, and finished in 12th just over 2 seconds off the leader, Jeremy Transue, who had a spectacular day. I was satisfied with the performance and ready to ramp it up the following day to pick up some points and be in good standings for the combined. The combined, usually considered the fifth event, combines the overall time of both the downhill and the slalom race.

NATIONALS DOWNHILL

Unfortunate, bad luck tormented my plans as I came down the Flu (Influenza A to be exact) the night before the national’s downhill. I was up all night with a high fever (maxing out at 103.7 degrees). Thus, I spent the downhill race day in bed and at the Girdwood Clinic where I was lucky enough to be proscribed Tamiflu, the powerful anti-viral Flu medication. Just like that the downhill was gone. Marco Sullivan won the race by a full second.

NATIONALS SUGER G
The next day was the super g. I talked to my coach about skipping it, but woke up the next morning itching to race so I left my bed for the start still feeling under the weather. I came to Alaska to race, not to lie in bed. I had a great top section as my skis were running, but in the middle turny section I quickly lost elevation and scrubbed tons of speed to putt across the line into a disappointing18th place. Bode put together an impressive run to win the super g.

NATIONALS SLALOM
The next day was the slalom. I just came off a strong Canadian Nationals result so I was ready to get after it again. The first run, I put together some good turns, but ran out gas on the lower section and made a few unacceptable mistakes to finish the run in 12th. Second run, I dropped the hammer and in about the same section in the course I just ran out of energy and blew out. It was a disappointing day, but somewhat expected. I felt ok, but just didn’t have enough energy or strength to put down a solid run from top to bottom. Luckily we had a day off before the GS so I had some time to rest.

NATIONALS GIANT SLALOM
The final day of racing and my last chance to put together a good day at nationals started out quite well as I finally felt good- my body was over the Flu. I drew bib 3 so it was game on- the day was mine. I pushed out of the gate and took a conservative line around the first two gates. Ted (Ligety) went just before me and I opted to cut off his line and starting pinning the upper section. I was linking together some good turns, got a little back, hit some really grippe, inconsistent snow, hooked up (my skis dug into the snow and kept turning), and just like that I found myself in the air rolling onto my back going out of the course. I was fine, but just like that US Nationals we over without a single respectable result. Ted went onto win the race.

All and all, it was a tough series, but I was able to spend the week with my Dad who definitely helped my get through the Flu. He was running around making sure I had everything I needed. Thanks, Dad.

I’m currently in Park City, UT gearing up to drive to Colorado on Friday for six days of spring series racing to cap off the season. There will be a bunch of us in Colorado so there’s a good opportunity to score a couple more needed results before the season is complete.

I hope all of you are doing well. Sorry for such a long update, but I just didn’t have much energy to send one out mid series.

Take care, w

posted by Warner at 4/05/2007 08:31:00 PM (permanent link to this post) 0 comments