2011 Season Roundup

So the 2010/2011 season has wound to a close for me now. Apologies for the lack of frequent updates, I've been very slack on the blogging side of things! But we are back up and running now! Selections back in October sent me to the Intercontinental cup for the season, with 4 races in Europe and 4 in North America. The season actually ended up being very disappointing and full of ups and downs, my training times before just about all of the races suggested that I was on for great results (Top 5 at least) and the end product come raceday was always a bit of a letdown. There were however a lot of positives to take from it all. As Michael Johnson would say its the losses that you learn the most from and what you take from those losses that make you a stronger athlete and human being.

With the results not being as I had wanted and hoped for I was left to take what I could from the performances - Strong pushes throughout, a very decent understanding of the new sled setup and some very promising training times, all of which will help me immensely in the forthcoming seasons leading upto the Sochi 2014 Olympics. Additionally this season led me to slide three new tracks at which I had never slid before, La Plagne, Altenberg and Whistler are all very technical, difficult tracks and having now learnt these tracks it sets me in much better stead to be competitive at future races there as well as making me a better all round slider. 

In terms of looking to the future I've also now highlighted a number of key areas that I need to work on moving forward. First and foremost a mental state thats condusive to sliding, so that I take training form into the races. Secondly I've identified a few technical issues I need to address with my push which I believe will have massive benefits over this coming off season, and thirdly im now very close to identifying an optimum sled setup with regards to runner settings etc which is far more beneficial to my style of driving. Take all of these and make them better for next season is the goal, and a goal that will hopefully see me bring home the performances I know im capable of.

A full rundown of my results this season is below:
Winterberg 10th
Altenberg 10th
La Plagne 11th
La Plagne 14th
Whistler 11th
Whistler 16th
Lake Placid 9th
Lake Placid  9th

Raceday #1 in Whistler, loading onto the sled after pushing the 3rd fastest pushtime in history at this track.