Back in the Finals in Quebec

I had a good race Sunday at the FIS World Cup in Quebec, Canada, making it back into the finals. I won the second qualification run to advance to the top sixteen. Unfortunately I ran into some problems on the first run of the finals, but bounced back strong in the second run making up 1.3 seconds of the 1.5 penalty, but just missing advancing further.

After crashing three races in a row, I was pleased to be back in the top sixteen finals. I changed boots before the Asia World Cups, which took me a few weeks to dial in. I knew I was riding faster as evident in Park City, but it took some time to fine tune the new boots after being on Burton race boots for fifteen seasons. I realized I wasn’t going to win the Super Bowl with the set-up I was running and decided to make a mid-season change. It was like switching starting NFL quarterbacks mid-season. I want to win and it needed to be done. The boards are so good now and the forces from running a more aggressive line so much greater that it was causing my old worn out boots to collapse on the heelside; I needed a more rigid boot laterally. I’m happy with the change now and feel like I’m riding faster than ever as a result. Sometimes you have to take one step back to take two forward and I believe that’s what I did and am now better off for it. I don’t want to be making these changes next year in a World Championship year and certainly not in an Olympic year. I’m ready for a strong finish to the competitive season.

I travel to Italy today for World Cup finals March 15th at Valmalenco, Italy, then back to Oregon for US Nationals Easter weekend March 22nd and 23rd. I’m fired up for a strong finish to the competition season. My 8th annual Aspen-Klug Snowboard camp takes place March 28-30. Thanks for checking in.

CK

Stoneham, Quebec FIS World Cup, photo Oliver Kraus FIS Media