Hi Everyone!

I hope you all are having a nice winter!

This is going to be a bit of a shorter update, but packed with lots of videos and pictures instead, because I’m writing this as I’m flying to South Korea for the World Cup Olympic Test event that I will be competing in this weekend!!

A Change of Plans

As some of you may know, I didn’t qualify for the Canadian World Cup stops in Val St. Côme and Calgary and had to return home after the Lake Placid World Cup in the beginning of January. After this disappointment, I set my mind to training for the next two weeks, nailing down my run as best as possible with my old Steamboat coaches, Kate Blamey and Bobby Aldighieri. I made a myriad of improvements over these two weeks, to say the least. Although I certainly would have liked to be competing, the time spent training ended up working out for the best, as I cleaned up many aspects of my run and now feel more confident with my skiing more than ever.

During this two week period, the fate for the rest of my season was uncertain as I headed into my last guaranteed World Cup start in Deer Valley, Utah, this past week. If I performed well, then I had a chance to continue on the rest of the world cup tour in Asia. If I did not do my best, I would immediately begin competing in the North American Tour with two stops in Canada and two stops in the United States. I was hungry to show my stuff and prove that I was meant to be on World Cup tour.

Deer Valley World Cup Event

The Deer Valley World Cup Singles day was on Thursday, Feb. 2nd and I unfortunately just missed out on the final, as I finished 18th. I moved on quickly, not wanting to keep negative thoughts around for long and focused all of my energy instead onto the one thing I could control, the Deer Valley World Cup Duals event on Saturday, Feb. 4th. In the mogul skiing world, the Deer Valley World Cup Duals Event is dubbed “The Super Bowl of Mogul Skiing” as it is an extremely exciting event set at night, under the lights, and draws a crowd of over 10,000 spectators. This event, set on the mogul course on “Champion” at Deer Valley, never disappoints (same course as the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games).

THE DEER VALLEY MOGUL COURSE ON “CHAMPION”
picture: The Mogul Skiing Academy

THE CROWD & ATMOSPHERE IS AMAZING
picture: The Mogul Skiing Academy

I skied a total of 5 duals that night. In the qualification round (all 35 skiers), I successfully battled it out against one of my teammates, which got me into the Final Round of 16. My dual in the next round against Audrey Robichaud (CAN – 12th in the world) brought me to the semi-finals, where I faced Perrine Laffont (FRA – #3 in the world). After claiming another victory in that dual, I found myself in the final four, up against #1 in world – Brittney Cox (AUS). As expected, it was a tough dual where Britt came out on top, which landed me in the small final against another one of my teammates (and former Steamboat Teammate) Jaelin Kauf for 3rd place! I ended up finishing in 4th, the best World Cup finish of my career so far!! Before the event, I determined that I didn’t have any expectations, I just focused on how I could control each aspect of my run. As the crowd grew bigger and bigger throughout the night, I had more and more fun with the event! The whole experience was a night to remember!

I have Qualified for the Rest of the WC Tour!

Because of my performance at the Deer Valley World Cup Duals event, I qualified for a spot on the rest of the World Cup Tour in Asia. As I mentioned previously, I am currently on a plane to South Korea, where I will get the opportunity to compete on the same exact site where the Olympics will be held next winter! After the Olympic test event, I head onward to Japan and China for 4 more World Cup starts!! The past few days have been a whirlwind, to say the least. I am extremely excited for the rest of the tour!