English Championships 2018 - Bormio, Italy
Straight after January university exams I flew back out to Aosta for more training and racing. I started off with a week of slalom training followed by two slalom races in Combloux, France, then a week of GS and Super G training before the English Championships in Bormio, Italy. Having missed 5 weeks of training in the middle of race season due to exams, I found it hard to get the same feelings back that I had before I left. We had some tough, soft and rutted conditions in Combloux, which made starting later in the race a disadvantage. On the second day I managed to make the flip. Going down first made a big difference to my times off the winner. I still didn't get the results I was hoping for but I had produced some of my best slalom skiing ever in a race, so I had that so be happy about.
I had a mix of highs and lows at the English Championships in Bormio. The week didn't start off the way I'd hoped; it was only my second GS race since my injury - the first being 6 months ago on a summer train camp in Chile - and I had only managed to fit in 3 days of GS training in the past 2 months. In the race I'd link 3 or 4 good turns together but then lose the line or make a big mistake. Despite not skiing to my full potential in the slalom races either, I was able to finished 2nd U21 so things were starting to look up.
Having had two great days training Super G in Courmayeur and Crevacol prior to the English Champs, I decided to race my first Super G since my first knee surgery 4 years ago. The Super Combined race (one run Super G, one run Slalom) was the highlight of my week in Bormio: starting my first Super G race in 4 years on my 21st Birthday and with bib 21! The race was held on a World Cup Downhill piste and featured the San Pietro jump; this was also the first time I had jumped or been in the air since I first ruptured my ACL 4 years ago off a jump in France. Furthermore, I also ruptured my LCL just before the slalom race here on my Birthday 2 years ago. So I had plenty of reason to be nervous, but I was skiing SG well in training, I visualised the jump over and over and over again in my head and managed to stay calm before the race. In the end I finished 21st! The following day we ran another separate Super G again, this time I was tighter through the air off the jump but didn't ski the steep stade as clean as I wanted to. Nevertheless it was a tough Super G hill and more confidence gained.
