Well where to
start. Let’s just say it, I had two races in Landgraaf and I managed to get
disqualified in both races in the second run for missing a gate, impressive,
right?! Yes made the same mistake twice, didn’t learn, blabla…. And cried… twice….
It sucks.
We arrived in
Landgraaf on Monday and trained slalom on Tuesday and Wednesday, I had good
runs during these sessions and especially my last run on Wednesday, everything
felt right (for the moment) so that was a good way to end my last training
before race day.
After skiing we
went cycling in the gym and did some core and stretching and off course we did
our ski’s. It was fun hanging out with the other teams we even watched soccer
the Netherlands against Germany sort of together with the Germans, but the
Netherlands lost 3-0. On Wednesday I put
a lot of work in prepping my ski’s for the race and I was happy with the
results, my ski’s where fast! After dinner I got my bib, 15 and I felt relax and ready to race.
After a good
night of sleep I woke up excited but not nervous, I did the inspection and the
first run looked pretty good. I skied the first run and it was a good run I was
happy with my time, off course there were still things I could do better, but I
was happy. My time was good, I sat in 6th place 0,5 seconds behind
number 5 and 2,5 seconds behind number 1 (the world champion!) my gap with number
7 was 2,5 seconds as well.
After the first
run my mom arrived and a friend, it was great that they came to watch me!
During inspection I noticed the turns in the second run where sharper. In the
first run we didn’t use a start interval and started when the girl before had
finished but because it was a big field and they wanted to speed things up they
used a start interval for the second run, I didn’t know that. In the start the
starter started to count down, but I saw the person in front of me still
skiing, and I lost my focus…. Even so I skied the top part pretty good, I
was attacking more than in the first run, this was a better run. Until I got
pushed back, and in the backseat I got shot out of the slalom, damn. Getting
pushed back is a big problem for me because my orthosis pulls me a bit to the
back and I have weakness in my foot lifter muscles so I can’t pull myself back
to the front that easy.
Well I finished
my mom was there so I cried, like a little girl, which helped I got it all out
and I knew what the problem was.
The rest of
Thursday I spend just chilling and prepping my ski’s for the next race on Friday.
I remember I
wrote on twitter, turns out 15 wasn’t my number. After dinner I got my bib,
yeah 15… There was a little pink tea cup hanging on the wall in the kids corner
and if I finished the next day, Sven, one of the trainers would give it to me as a
reward, finishing would have been a big enough reward but I like the tea cup.
Next day, Friday I finished the first run but the disqualification of the day before got to me a
little bit, so I held back… My time was still pretty good considering it is my
first race, again sitting in 6th place, only the gap to number 5 was
a bit bigger (0,9 second) my gap to number 7 was (2,76 seconds) and the gap to
number one was (2,9 seconds). Second run, inspection I had my doubts about the
gate before last (27) I even walked back to see how the others did that gate, the
rest of the run was fast. I skied and it felt good, I got rid of the feelings I
had during the first run, I was almost in the finish, confident I skied right
but when I was next to gate 27 I realized my mistake…. I cursed and got really
mad with myself. I hadn’t tried to ski that gate because it didn’t look right
at the time, the lines where straight to the finish, it wasn’t clear at all! So
I missed the gate and got disqualified….. again. Just at that moment my dad arrived, too bad he didn't see me race.
me realizing my mistake....
As it turned out
I wasn’t the only one who got disqualified at that gate, in total 8 out of the
11 athletes that got disqualified in the second run got disqualified at gate 27. My roommate Anna got
disqualified at gate 27 as well, she also took the straight line and she called
it a ‘Sven Kramertje’ after the Dutch speed skater who didn’t switch lanes in the 2010 Olympics, he got disqualified while he would have won gold if it hadn’t
happen, I think it’s a good name for what happened.
To top that day
off, I slipped while walking in my ski boots and I fell on my head, hard….
Later that
afternoon we had a little photo shoot for profile pictures and a group
picture, curious how those pictures turned out, posing all dizzy and with a bad
headache.
We also had a ski
session that afternoon but I felt a little foggy in my head so I went inside
after a few runs. After a shower and 2 hours in bed I felt better so I went to dinner
and the party that night. We had cheese fondue and fun with the Suisse team and
2 balloons. I didn’t stay long at the party my head couldn’t deal
with the music, I hang out with a few of the Suisse guys in the hall for a
while and went to bed early. I woke up disappointed and foggy in my head the
next morning but I had a good time anyway. It’s too bad that I got disqualified
in both races because I was skiing good and I would have qualified for the European
cup, which is a goal, but I know it's a reachable goal now. Because I didn’t qualify for
the European Cup my next races are in January and I have December at home, time
to study. My head is getting better, I have a bit of a concussion that’s also why this
blog is this late, but it’s a lot better and getting back to normal.
