2XU’s Katya Crema on Winter Olympic Pursuit
VIS Ski Cross Young Gun and proud 2XU Ambassador Katya Crema is busy skiing her way through 2010 Winter Olympic Qualifying events around Europe. With the Winter 2010 team still yet to be announced, athletes are pushing themselves harder than ever. Here’s Katya’s latest news…
The past week in France has been an absolute nail biter. The past two world cups were the final qualifying races for the Olympic Games. The first of the two races was held in Les Contamines, France. This is where I competed in my first ever Ski Cross World Cup 2 years ago. It was great to come back and re live some old memories.
Starting with bib number 40, I managed to qualify in 27th spot; my 3rd consecutive finals qualification for the season. The course was lots of fun. Some steep sections with water injected GS turns, and also some big jumps with lots of air time.
On Saturday, the weather came in and finals were cancelled after 2 heats of girls. I was ready to go in the gate, waiting for the familiar “Riders ready, Attention….”. With my heart rate through the roof and adrenaline pumping wildly, they made the call. You could hardly see 20m in front of you. Not ideal weather conditions when you’re launching 20+ metres through the air with 3 other skiers by your side.
So finals were postponed until the next day. The sky cleared and it was a cracker of a day. Once again I had fourth pick (which means no pick) of the gate because of my qualifying time. Coming into the first turn I was pinched out by Emilie of Switzerland. I stuck right on the tails of her skis until she went off a jump unbalanced and crashed into the nets. I managed to swerve and dodge her, and continued on to finish 3rd in my heat. Emilie was taken away in a helicopter and I later found out that she blew her ACL; the same injury I sustained just under 2 years ago…VISIT KATYA’S BLOG FOR MORE
You can also visit www.katyacrema.com
