National champion overall

Looking back at nationals today definitely comes with some mixed feelings. In the training on Saturday, it was clear that the water conditions were quite difficult. Due to a high level of the water, backwash was a huge problem. This means that the waves the boat makes, come back into the course when you want to start your next run. After the boat has been going for a while, the water is very difficult to ski on. In my first time slaloming, I did 5 bouys at the 16 meter line, where I should have done all 6. Since the conditions were very tough, this did get me the title of national champion for the under 21 women.

Crowned national champion by my mom

The second time in slalom I was expecting to run 16, since I was so close last time. Instead of this, the wind started blowing really hard and very inconsistently. This makes it hard to compensate for the wind whilst skiing. I skied very far under my personal best, I was so disappointed that I didn’t even realise how many bouys I had at the 18 meter line. After me, my biggest competition skied, she also couldn’t pass the 18 meter line, but we both didn’t know how many bouys we had. It turns out that we skied exactly the same, which means we had to ski a tie-break, because there has to be one national champion. In the tie brake we both still had trouble running the 18 meter line, since we both made the same mistake at bouy 6. This makes it hard to get to the end gate. We both tried to go through, but she got through and I just missed it, making her the national champion of the open women. In the training on Saturday, I felt good about my tricks, I also timed my runs to make sure they were within the 20 seconds that they are allowed. I was confident and slightly nervous for my tricks in the under 21 category. This is because I was far ahead of my competition due to my slalom results. I am not able to beat her in jump just yet, so I needed to put up a good trick score. I did a good first run, but fell at my last two tricks. Then when I went on the boat to change my ski for the next run, I felt a cramp in my right foot. I tried to stretch it out on the boat and continued for my toehold pass. Just a couple of tricks into my toehold pass, my left foot completely cramped up and I tried to continue skiing, but the pain and distraction were too much and I fell. My score in tricks compared to last year is still quite good, but it is far below what I wanted and should have tricked. The same happened in the tricks for the open women category, but now it was even worse. I couldn’t finish my runs and had to accept a score in the 2200. For the jump I tried to not be bothered by what happened in slalom and tricks and just focus on what I could still do. In the category under 21, I jumped a new pb  of 23 meters, which is 2 meters under my goal, but I’m still very happy with it. When it was time to jump for the open category I was exhausted and couldn’t put the power into the jump that I would’ve liked. Still I jumped as far and further as my new pb from last week, so I am consistently improving. In the end I am the new national champion in slalom and overall in the under 21 women and got second in all other disciplines in under 21 and open women. It leaves room for improvement in titles next year and hopefully in results at the under 21 European and African Championship, which is the next competition!