Paul Henderson happy with the way the Youth Olympics are going…
Paul Henderson is growing in confidence as the Youth Olympics are unravelling. This is a major step up for the Edinburgh racer and after taking 17th in the opening race of the 1st Winter Youth Olympics, Henderson put in another solid run in the Super G section of the Super Combined. Sadly on the second leg of the race, the slalom, four gates from home, relaxed and crashed out – like so many of the racers in the cold and darkening conditions. While the disappointment was written across his face, this soon disappeared and he was looking forward to the next race. Henderson is relishing the experience in Innsbruck!
Almost before he had left the finish area after the Super G and struggling to catch his breath in the cold air, Paul had the finish commentator thrusting her microphone in his face. This did not put him off and Paul was publicly looking forward to the slalom and was happy.
By the time he had made it into the mixed zone to meet the press, paul had had a chance to compose his thoughts and had seen his time. “If I can keep this up I will be happy,” he declared. While he would eventually move down to 23rd from 19th when he came through the finish, this was a positive step for Henderson to attack from.
Despite the weather being cold and sharp, Henderson took time to look back on his 17th in the Super G itself. “Yesterday was good,” he explained, “the course was bumpy but I made a good effort down the whole course. I made a slight mistake at the bottom as I had only been half a second off at the first split and then I lost two seconds on the bottom half. I got the course better today but more of the top guys finished,” he went on. “I am still pleased with my skiing and my performance.”
In the Super Combined Super G, Henderson was not so concerned about the time gap between him and the leaders but satisfied that he was roughly the same gap behind that he had been in the Super G itself. The plan for the race had been to stay in the top thirty so that he had a good course for the slalom section: “I have gone from start number 30 to 19th and that is a good effort and I will strike from there on the second run.”
The signs for a good second run were there as Henderson explained that he “is better at the technical races but he does like the speed.” Sadly despite losing time at the top, he was 1.30 seconds off the lead at the split, a few gates from home he “relaxed and went too straight.” The end result was him crashing out. The competitor that he is meant that he thought about hiking “but I had gone too far down,” he explained.
With the freestyle finals grabbing the attention of the British media, Henderson was able to concentrate on his racing today. The whole Youth Olympics experience is something that he is really enjoying as he is learning from “so many other cultures.” Henderson has eyes on getting to the “real Olympics” in the future as well as doing the Youth Olympics “one more time before I am too old,” he explained.
With his parents in the finish area, Paul admitted that they had been very happy with the Super G result. Mike Pilarski, the GB Team coach for the small GB team, was satisfied with Henderson’s run as he felt that he had attacked the sections he could and took a good line.
Final word from Henderson: “I am happy, good performance and just got to take this in to the next race.” After the slalom section and his straddle he added “that is ski racing. We move on!”
