div style=”text-align: left;”We just returned from probably the most exciting race I have ever skied. Friday was the City Sprint in the middle of a little town named Monguelfo, in Italy. At ten in the morning we raced our qualifier about an hour’s drive up from town, where there was better snow coverage. It was only an 800 meter race, so the most important thing was to be quick… and to stay quick for the entire 2.5 minute race. Only the top 16 made the heats for the city sprint later on that night. I ended up qualifying 3rd- 1.3 seconds back. The field was small, only 31, but packed with many really good skiers. Two of which were the girls that placed 2nd and 5th at World Juniors earlier this year.br //divdivbr //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4EOYdCwegI/AAAAAAAAAQY/aFUIqYr133o/s1600-h/IMG_2225.JPG”img src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4EOYdCwegI/AAAAAAAAAQY/aFUIqYr133o/s320/IMG_2225.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440645638116112898″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 320px; ” //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Just after the road crossing- heading up the “hill” on the course/span.br //divdiv style=”text-align: center;”br //divdiv style=”text-align: left;”At 6:30 PM, after resting all day we headed down the road to the city for the heats. It was raining and getting dark out- which was going to make the race all the more exciting. Warming up included putting on some running shoes and running down the highway. When we arrived they had all the fences up around the courses, all the arches and banners, and the streets were lined with spectators. There was a huge “Fire and Ice” party going on at the same time which drew in a lot more energy and spectators to watch and cheer on the skiers racing through the streets. /divdiv style=”text-align: left;”br //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4ESgpcG7MI/AAAAAAAAAQg/Y69DO-Hsw6U/s1600-h/DSCN2549.JPG”img src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4ESgpcG7MI/AAAAAAAAAQg/Y69DO-Hsw6U/s320/DSCN2549.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440650176929131714″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; ” //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Looking down the finish stretch/spanbr //divdiv style=”text-align: left;”br //divdiv style=”text-align: left;”The heats were exciting and dirtier than any sprint race I have ever raced. You had to fight hard for your position. Because the track around town was so narrow, passing was limited. The best way to guarantee advancing to the next heat was to be the first one out of the start and stay wide so no one could move around you. Each heat only started four people, and top two advanced to the next heats. It was super exciting, the course was lined with cameras so that all the spectators in the finish area could watch the action all around the course. Everyone was super fired up. It made you feel like a celebrity skiing through the streets. The racing was tight from the beginning. My quarterfinal had the two girls who had previously placed 2nd and 5th at U23 championships so I knew I was going to have to fight for it. I led the entire heat and made it through. Semi-finals I secured second place and once again advanced onto A-finals. The A-final heat was a little bit dirtier. I did some serious fighting for my place with a French girl and nearly went down a couple times and at some point managed to get a pole in my lip. I fought the entire 800 meters to make it around her, but ended up crossing the line 4th- my first OPA cup podium! It wasn’t until 9:00 PM that night until we finished our racing and then got our awards. One long and exciting day in Italy! /divdiv style=”text-align: left;”br //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4ETAOtNmZI/AAAAAAAAAQo/mwRA2bJypHY/s1600-h/IMG_2262.JPG”img src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4ETAOtNmZI/AAAAAAAAAQo/mwRA2bJypHY/s320/IMG_2262.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440650719508928914″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; ” //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Semi-finals. Following the girl that went on to win the event/spanbr //divdiv style=”text-align: center;”br //divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: normal; “a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4ETdxwPTMI/AAAAAAAAAQw/gACdLVoDHmo/s1600-h/IMG_2294.JPG”img src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4ETdxwPTMI/AAAAAAAAAQw/gACdLVoDHmo/s320/IMG_2294.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440651227133070530″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 296px; height: 320px; ” //a/span/span/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4ETAOtNmZI/AAAAAAAAAQo/mwRA2bJypHY/s1600-h/IMG_2262.JPG”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold; “span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color: rgb(0, 0, 0); “First OPA cup podium! 1-Swiss 2-Italian 3-French 4-USA/span/span/aa onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4ETAOtNmZI/AAAAAAAAAQo/mwRA2bJypHY/s1600-h/IMG_2262.JPG”br //a/divdivdivbr //div/divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2910103639238326543-9163545549645249921?l=methowolympicdevelopment.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
