My 3rd race was at Konigssee Germany, to a track i knew well and had high hopes for. After a strong set of training results my beliefs seemed well founded, however as is often the case in skeleton one slight error proved my undoing on raceday. My first run saw me push well and holding a significant lead until the exit S4, of one of the corners just before a straight of some 200meters, i came out of the corner angled slightly wrong and consequently skidded down the majority of the straight, and on a track this short (47 or 48 seconds ballpark downtimes) any mistake like that is costly, and it put me into 15th position. A stronger second run after having learnt from my mistake saw me climb a few spots to 12th, a very respectable position considering, however in my high expectations, still a blip on the landscape for me. However we were moving onto Cesana, one of my favourite tracks on the calender...until now...
So all too soon we were training in Cesana, the track proved a very tricky customer during the week, however some time on the track watching other athletes and some good track walks put me in very good stead for another strong result. A top 3 was most definitely possible here. Raceday however turned out to be a nightmare, my start is up there with the worlds best for sure, but a vital component of the start is getting on the sled whilst keeping it in the start groves, this however proved to be my undoing, i powered off a monster of a start that would have most definitely given the track record a run for its money, however a stumble on the load saw me pop out of the spur, skidding a good 15meters before the final timing gate and taking several hits bleeding all my speed into corner 1. From there on it it was damage limitation and despite having one of the best speeds later down the track there was just no coming back from the time and speed lost at the start and i finished a lowly 22nd. Ironically my start time was still the fastest of anybody on the day, proof that it truely was an absolute monster of a push. Still there are lessons to be learnt here and in a season where finishing the race and maximising points is of more importance, making sure i was on the sled securely is crucial, and mark my words, this will not be happening again!
Me! Sliding...obviously!
These results saw me sitting 5th out of 6th GB athletes come the mid point of the season, and it was at this stage I was to find out what hitting rock bottom would feel like. Cutting a long story short the GB association at Christmas make tactical decisions with who is racing in what competitions, one of the more experienced sliders on the GB team who was deemed more of an 'olympic prospect' was moved down from World Cup and into the ICC team because he missed one of the world Cup races and needed to make up that race and gain points on our circuit instead. This consequently meant one of the ICC sliders had to move out of the squad to make room, and after a season of such promise I was the one chosen to be dropped for 3 races, a decision that left me utterly heartbroken and demoralised, without going into the legal ramifications and ins and out i feel i was properly screwed over by the whole situation, as a lot of decisions that i feel were unjustified went against me, perhaps the fact that I am a lot younger than the rest of the team and had no experience of the current olympic track team led to the decision. At the end of the day after putting everything i possibly could into this season I am left sat at home for a few weeks instead of racing, there are still possibilities of me racing a couple more races this season but for now my Olympic dreams are over...at least for another 4 years. Still, onwards and upwards, and as Michael Johnson would say "While we may like to imagine life as an obstacle course where we can run around all the losses, failures, defeats and disappointments, begin to realise that losing is an integral part of the stuff that propells us, that makes the chase worthwhile".
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