World Cup Slalom, Roll Rinn, Innsbruck, Austria - 9 Jan 2010
A full complement of the best seated Slalom skiers in the World were
here, so a great indication on where I sit among them going forward
in this important Paralympic year.
(The Slalom event is a race of two separate runs combined for a
total overall time.)
Run 1 – I’ve been Skiing Slalom well on my new sitski and felt
confident. At this level of competition you need to be living on the
edge to be in with a chance of a medal so I went for it from the
start on a difficult course. Numerous times working so hard to stay
upright and reacting to the changes in terrain going at full speed.
I crossed the line very pleased with my performance and as I was
second out the start gate in the seated category, I had to wait for
some time for the rest of the field to finish before I learned my
fate. I was pleasantly surprised as The Best Slalom skiers in the
World came down (bar one) were slower. Multiple Paralympic and World
Cup Medalist Martin Braxenthaler (Germany) posting the fastest time
and me only 0.5secs behind. 2nd place was unbelievable,
it felt awesome but I still needed to re-focus and put another top
level run together before i could get too excited?
Run 2 – It was a steep difficult first 6 gates and I miss timed the
fourth gate, which was very rough after 70 other skiers before me
had ran the course. I slid sideways to a stop and pushed to get
going, it was a major mistake and a lot of time wasted. Now time to
get mad and throw caution to the wind, which transpired to be some
of the best Slalom skiing I’ve ever done. It felt so good and even
though I knew myself I’d blown the chance of my first Slalom World
Cup medal I crossed the line and was pleased with my efforts. I
couldn’t believe when I heard the tannoy shout 4th place
and then after Martin Braxenthaler came down after me for the win it
placed me in 5th - even with such a big mistake? I must
have ripped the bottom section. What could have been eeh..?? I would
have been over the moon with a 5th place against these
guys last year!
I’m pleased with my skiing at the moment and even though I want to
win every race, I know the big goal is the Winter Paralympics,
Whistler, Canada in March. I’m warming up nicely this season and
turning heads along the way, proving that the British Disabled Ski
Team has medal potential. All we need now is some sponsors and more
media coverage to help us on our journey.
We head over to Abtenau, Austria in the morning for 6 more World Cup
races (2xSlalom, 2xGiant Slalom, SuperG and Super Combined)
Wish me luck!
Sean Rose
British Disabled Ski Team