On Thursday I didn’t ski, because I was travelling the country with my trick skis. I would go to a rookie competition, because this was at my friends’ club, and also it would be a good moment to time my runs and get used to a little competition pressure. There was a lot of wind at the competition site, but it went straight down the lake. This means that going one way there was head wind and the other way, tail wind. It is easier to do toeholds with tail wind, because in head wind you get blown away from the boat, and it’s hard to keep the line close to you with just 1 leg. However, there was tail wind on the first pass, which meant I had to start with toes, even though I have always done my hands run first in tournament. Even in training I prefer to do my hands before toes. I didn’t have much of a choice though, because there was a really strong wind, so there would be no point in doing toes with that head wind. It wasn’t such a big deal in the end to do toes first, so it was good to have experienced that. Still, my toe run didn’t go too well, I fell really early on, because I tried to start with my 540, which is relatively new. I didn’t fall on the 540, but I came out of it badly and so fell soon after, because I continued whilst I was unstable. It was because of this that I made the decision together with Talisa to start with a 360 instead of the 540 so that I am sure I’ll finish the run, even though it will be 120 less points. My hands run went really well after, I liked the new order and did everything within the time. Though my 540s weren’t fully credit, they weren’t far off, and I got good tips from the judges on how to have them credit for the actual competition on Sunday. A good feeling before the competition!
Sadly I couldn’t end the competition with the same good feeling. There were only 2 rounds, instead of the 3 + final that we thought. In the first round I fell on my first 540, so no 540s, no step sequence, that’s a big hit in my score. Still, I wanted to perform on my toehold run, even if there was no way I would end with a good score. I hadn’t practised starting with a 360, but I knew that would be a safe option, since it was my run all of last year. I did do the 360 and came out more stable than I usually did out of my 540. I did my whole run except the last trick, which I was happy with. I wasn’t too happy with my score though, because I was missing a lot of points from my hands sequence. I decided not to change my run for the next round, because I had so much confidence in this run, I was determined to do both runs like I had in mind. I did my first 540 in hands, but fell on the second. Really frustrating, since in training they were going so well! I finished my toes run after, including the last trick that I fell on in the previous round. However, I decided not to go for my back to back reverse, because I didn’t feel stable coming out of the first back to back. This means I gained the amount of points that I lost compared to my toe run in the first round. Furthermore, my 540 in hands was not credit, so I didn’t get points there, leaving me with the same amount of points. For next week, I might try to change the order again and start with a step sequence, so this week I have to focus on getting that really safe.
Hopefully the score I had in mind will become reality in the next competition, because I had such confidence that I could ski a trick PB. Luckily every other team member skied a PB, so many people qualified for the Europeans, which is amazing! I’m super happy for everyone else, and that I got to be in the boat for most of those wicked PBs!!!
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