X Games

I arrived back in Aspen after a trip to France that was full of fun and interesting experiences. I got to spend a little time sledding with Riley and Annalisa before starting the long week that is Winter X 12.Right when I got back to the U.S. I went to the Steadman/Hawkins clinic and met with Dr. Sterret. He determined that I had a little swelling in my knee and that an anti-inflammatory steroid injection would be helpful to take down the swelling. Then he suggested an un-loader brace that might help me with the pain in my lateral posterior part of the knee. After dealing with the pain in France and going out of the course in Flaine because of that pain I was ready to do anything with the XGames right around the corner. My knee got much better and I actually felt good going into the practice days.

This year’s XGames Skier-x course was one of the best courses I have seen to date. It turned out to be about a minute and a half and it was full of places to make passes. There were some great features and most of the jumps were built well and they made sense. The 2^nd to last jump, called the “skylar” jump, was interesting. It was a very steep take off and the landing was very steep as well. The problem with a steep landing is that it’s very easy to out shoot it. It looked like this one was going to work because the landing was so long. That was not the case, however.

I ended up 3^rd in the qualifying round which I was happy about. I had the fastest times of who I considered the favorites. Those names were Kraus, Lewen, Gavaggio, Fiala, and Rahlves. Kerr was the fastest in qualifying but I didn’t think he was ready to win the final in the XGames. My knee felt good, my skis were fast, and I was ready to be the first one in skier-x to repeat gold.

The quarters, the semis, and the finals were all intense heats and, unfortunately, many competitors ended up in the hospital. The second quarter final was perhaps the most intense. I couldn’t believe who was in that heat. It ended up being 5 of the 6 finalists from the year before. I was the only one missing, and the guy that replaced me was 2x World Champion Thomas Kraus. That heat turned out to be the worst one too. It started with Jake Fiala trying to make a pass on Lars Lewen. Lars decided not to let Jake by and in fact pushed him into the nets ending Jake’s run. Then, as Lars and Gavaggio neared the Skylar jump, Lars shut down his speed and Gavaggio did not. Gavaggio ran straight into the back of Lewen and it shot both competitors straight into the air and ended with them both landing on their back. Gavaggio broke his back, and Lewen left the hill with a bad concussion. Since Lewen hit his head hard, he got knocked out and he had some pretty bad convulsions. It was reminiscent of Scott Macartney’s convulsions in the finish at Kitzbuhel; not a good picture to have in your mind just before taking your first run!

My quarter and semi were fairly uneventful. I won both heats without too much trouble. Then there was the final. The final was Kerr, me, Rahlves, Kraus, Schmid, and Hayer. Kraus was the first one out of the gate, of course. I fell into second, and Rahlves and Hayer were right on my heels. Being right behind Kraus ended up being very bad for me. He had his radar on me and did everything he could to block me. Since he was blocking me and slowing us both down, Rahlves and Hayer took advantage and passed us both. After they passed us Kraus was still trying to block me. I got fed up with him and gave him a little nudge. That was enough to make him catch an edge and he fell out of the course. After Kraus was out I had to try and catch up to Hayer and Rahlves. I finally caught Hayer and was ready to make a pass but I out shot the jump, landed in the hole, and stumped out (stumping out means that your legs are full of lactic acid and instead of being two legs with muscles they are two useless stumps). I was inches from going straight into the b-net but somehow I garnered enough strength to recover. I ended up getting the bronze and Daron Rahlves won the race. He finally got a win after over a year of racing skier-x. I congratulated Daron and accepted the bronze medal.

I was happy with the result. After my summer of recovery I feel like any medal this year is a good medal. I had tons of fun on that course and I’m very glad to walk away healthy and ready to race in Deer Valley. I’ll give you updates from the first World Cup Skier-X held in the U.S. Ciao!