Winning in Wengen

KITZBUEHEL, Austria -- The super combined win on Friday was good. It wasn't anything too special. The skiing wasn't anything magical. It wasn't an easy race, which makes me feel a little bit better about the win. A win is always good but I've always said it does matter what kind of skiing gets you that win and in this case, the skiing wasn't great. I made some pretty big mistakes in the downhill and skied a pretty conservative slalom. But at the same time, it was good to get the 100 points and I did need to put down some solid results so that was good.
 
In the downhill, I just got a little bit direct and pitched on the last turn. I know that course pretty well and I've won there before. That last turn is a critical part and I'd already had a couple big mistakes up above. I knew that if I was going to win, I was going to have to take some big risks on the bottom. There aren't too many risks you can take down there. I didn't really take a lot of undue risk. I just couldn't get deep enough into the turn. I started the turn a little bit too early and my skis came in a little too quickly. If I kept leaning into the turn my whole body would have gone through the gate, so instead of doing that I had to lean a little bit away to make my body go around the gate. As soon as I leaned outside where the pressure was on my ski, I didn't have the strength left to handle the pressure so I just squished down and stopped. It was a bummer but I would have been second anyhow. I wouldn't have beat Janka. Second would have been great but it's not the end of the world.
 
Janka's skiing was solid. He didn't do anything magical I didn't think. But he skied really solid when everyone else, myself included, had problems. There is something to be said for that. He didn't take a ton of risks but he did execute really well.
 
It was cool to see Marco on the podium. I know that means a lot to him. I was hoping he would win but he had a solid run.
 
In slalom, I got my pole stuck in the ground. It was really weird. My pole got stuck and twisted me sideways. When I made the recovery, I just stepped on the gate and it hooked and it was over. It was kind of an unusual circumstance. It just jerked me around and I wasn't ready for it.
 
DNFs are always a little disappointing but they are what they are. When you make mistakes like that, that's what happens.
 
The new boots are working out well. I used the same boots in downhill and slalom, which I've never done before. I got into this setup because of my ankle. I needed something with less ankle flexion because it hurts my ankle if I'm too far forward. The new boots put me in more of an upright position which is a lot more comfortable for my ankle. I plan on staying in these boots for the rest of the season. My ankle is getting better all the time but it will still be an issue for a little while.
 
Kitzbuehel is our biggest stop of the year. I was leaning more towards it this year than I had before because now is when I thought I'd finally have a chance of being in decent shape and having sorted out a bunch of the issues. I figured I'd be able to start skiing well by this time. It's a good primer for the Olympics.
 
I need to start being able to trust myself to execute. That was the problem in the Wengen downhill. Winning in Kitzbehel wouldn't so much be what the win would mean, but what executing on race day would mean. I need to put together a plan that will ensure that I don't make stupid mistakes and will allow me to ski fast enough to win because that's what I'm going to need to do at the Olympics. These are the last tune-ups for that. Making sure I can make a good plan and execute. I thought I did that in Wengen but I didn't so I need to dial that in.