Today was my third World Cup skiercross ever, and I managed to pull out an 11th place result!

Yesterday's training didn't go so well. It's been a while in between events and so even though we were given 2 hours to train on the course, I didn't manage to put in a single good run. The course here is quite technical, with some large jumps and some fast, turny sections. All of the girls were having problems on one large jump. We just couldn't get enough speed or height to clear the 15m + landing, causing us to land smack on the flat. Not the most comfortable thing for the body, especially when it's repeated over and over. By the end of the day, the bottom of my heals were extremely painful, as were various other parts of my body.

Today was qualifers and finals.

I was a little nervous for my first training run because of the problems I was having on the course yesterday, however I skied much better and managed to ski the course cleanly, thereby boosting my confidence.

I went into my qualifying run feeling ready to go. I finished with the 10th fastest time, placing me in the 3rd heat of the finals with team mate, Jenny Owens, Emilie Serrain of Switzerland and Alexander Groenvald of Germany.

I had a great start, and Jenny, Emilie and I were neck and neck out of the start. Jenny managed to pull away, having the inside lane, and Emelie and I were left to battle it out for second position. She managed to just get by me before the first large jump, however, I remained on her tails for basically the entire way down. I attempted to pass her on various parts of the course but the course was very tight and I was unable to overtake. At one point, we were so close that I was skiing on the back of her skis. It's a little scary skiing so close to someone when you're doing over 60km/hr and you're jumping 20+ metres. So unfortunately I finished in 3rd place, not making it through to the semis.

I did much better though than I have done in the previous World Cups and with a little more experience, I am sure the upward trend will continue into the top 10 and beyond.

This 11th place result has placed me in 18th position on the overall World Cup SX ranking. I have 2 world cups remaining (both in Switzerland) to break into the top 16 and qualify for World Cup finals in March in Italy.

Tomorrow I am heading to Formigal, Spain, where I will be competing in the Alpine World Junior Championships. I miss the Super G, due to this World Cup here in Sierra Nevada, however, I will be competing in the downhill, giant slalom and slalom.

I'll keep you updated with how it all goes!

Hope everyone's well.

Katya

PS- attached is a photo of beautiful, sunny Spain (before the weather came in for the finals!)