To clear the air,

Yesterday, I was named to the U.S. World Championships Team in Garmisch, Germany next month, which is cool. However, if you look closely there are 5 GS skiers named (Ted, Bode, Tim Jitloff, Tommy Ford, and myself). Ted and Bode have automatic starts there in GS. Since Jitloff and I didn’t score too many WC points so far this season (8 and 7, respectively), we do not have guaranteed starts in GS (Jit has a guaranteed start in Super Combined). After Hinterstoder World Cup GS, in early February they will make a decision on who will actually start. There are two spots up between the three of us. Hopefully that makes some sense.

This puts more emphasis on tomorrows Europa Cup GS here in Meribel, France and on Hinterstoder. Sasha wants to send whoever is skiing fastest going into the series so it will be a last minute call. I’ll keep you all posted.

We, Tommy Ford, Nolan Kasper, Colby Granstrom, and I, just drove from 10 hours from Schladming to France yesterday after watching probably the most intense race of the season. It’s a night-slalom with 50,000 drunk Austrians having a grand ole time. They had to put the race on hold multiple time because too many people were using flares on the side of the hill right when the best Austrians were on course. In one section it looked like a war zone. Nolan Kasper had a great second run to move from 29^th to 12^th. Chowder finished 22^nd with a little trouble on the bottom second run and Ted finished 19^th. The Swedes owned the day, with four of them in the top 7 and two on the podium (Myhrer and Hargin finished 2^nd and 3^rd, respectively). Jenns Byggmark won the second run and was absolutely killing it. He’ll be back on the podium after a three-year hiatus soon. He put up a facebook status of, “finished 7^th at Swedish Nationals today!” right after the race. It was a fun race.

Earlier that day, a couple hours away I raced in a FIS race in Zell am See, Austria where I won first run and had a little trouble second run to finish 3^rd. It was nice to get a couple extra starts in. Being a GS skier in January is somewhat painful trying to find FIS and Europa Cup races. The GS season is nearly over after New Year’s; there are only two more World Cup GS races this season, not including World Champs or Finals.

I slept in until 9:00 AM this morning and it was amazing. I haven’t slept that late since Christmas. I just had breakfast with Jon Olsson and now we’re going to hit the mountain. It’s a beautiful day here in Meribel, France so it’s time to get off the Internet and go skiing.

Hope all is well and thanks for all the congratulatory notes about World Champs.

Cheers, w