This season is now finally over. The racing is done and the new points list has come out. I am really happy about where I have finished ranking wise, and I know that with the hard work and training I will make even bigger gains this summer and next season. It has already started. I was up at 6am for my first of three workouts today. Anyways, here is a little list of some of my rankings right now;

World Ranking GS – 3rd Under 18

World Ranking SL – 8th Under 18

World Ranking Tech – 3rd Under 18 (SL & GS)

1st British U-18 – SL

1st British U-18 – GS

2nd British Overall – SL & GS (average)

3rd British Overall – SL

4th British Overall – GS

I look at these ranks and I see that I have gone beyond my goals for the year and that I am in a good position to get going next year. Possibly the best of these ranks is being the 2nd best technical skier in Britain behind 27 year Dave Ryding. It is also nice to be right up with the best U-18′s in the world in tech.

Although I am the skier, these results weren’t all down to me. I have to thank everyone who helped me this year. Without some of these people I would not be where I am now. I want to thank everyone who supported me with equipment; Head; Leki; Uvex; Swix; and Ortema. And I of course cannot forget to thank my mum and my step dad for funding me for this year. At a huge expense for a year round program, it is a huge burden on them, so I thank you both more than anything!

Back in Vermont now to get fit and strong again before I go to Les2Alpes for my first camp towards the end in June.

There is nothing better than really finding your flow and having some good races at the end of the year. After two great races in Slalom in Canada I managed to keep it going once I got to Sunday River, Maine. The first day I scored my best slalom result, and my first slalom result in the 20′s. I had a solid first run that put me into the top 30 and let me run seventh on the second run. I found the perfect amount of intensity I skied my best run of slalom to date finishing second on the run just 2/100ths behind the leader (of the run). I couldn’t of been happier ending the winter with a run like that. I will be sure to post it online when I put a video together.

Myself in first, Griffin Brown in second, and Charlie Harrison in third (Under-18′s)

I am now back in Portugal for some R & R before I go back to Vermont for the spring to workout and study. I am sitting here now happy with how my winter went, but I already hungry to start training for next year. I have a feeling its going to be a great year!

Just got back from the Quebec Spring Series in Canada where I walked away with my two best slalom results so far. I scored a 34 and 37 in Slalom which will rank me in the top 10 in the world for 1996′s in Slalom. My goal of this year was to finish the season with my points in the 30′s in slalom so I am happy to say I achieved that and I hope that I will be able to do even better with two more slalom races left this season. For the first time this season I managed to ski a run doing the right things and making no mistakes. The second run of the second day I finished 5th on the run, after running 44th first run. I was right behind some of the top American skiers, such as Robby Kelly who races World cup, and I was ahead of some of the top college races in the US who ski with FIS points in the low teens. I couldn’t really believe the run when I got to the bottom considering the conditions didn’t change between bib 7 (me) and bib 25-30 (best guys) on the second run. Anyways, it was rewarding to finally pull it together. With four more races, two GS and two slaloms, I hope I can keep skiing fast and get some more results. I reached my goals this year so I just need to hammer as hard as I can and see how it goes! On another note, I am now ranked 3rd for 1996′s in the world in GS. Only need one result by a couple points to be number one. Im gonna work hard to do so the next two days. Until then, here are some pictures from Canada

The u-18 podium day 2. The same day I had my good second run.

Today was a great way to start the spring racing! I won the Eastern Cup Final GS at Stowe today and scored my best GS result to date, a 25. There isn’t a whole lot to say except that I am super happy with how it went. It was also nice to share the podium with GMVS team-mate Tucker Marshall. Tucker had 9/100ths of a second on me first run and I finished 4/100ths of a second ahead… it was a very tight race.

L2R; Tucker Marshall, myself, and Sam Coffey

This result is the best result for a 1996 birth thus far this year, by about .30 of a FIS point ahead of my friend Mathias Graf. It seems like the two of us are going to be battling it out until the end of the year to see who finishes with the best points. Good luck buddy! Another day at Stowe tomorrow for GS and then we move to Waterville for Slalom over the weekend. Hoping to do the same tomorrow!

Just finished up a good weekend of racing at Stowe. I managed to score my second best GS result of 38 points. Sadly I was in the lead after the first run but made a couple mistakes the second run so I ended the day in fifth… it was a very tight race! At least I was the top kid for my age by quite a margin. That result now gives me 33 points in GS which keeps me in the top 10 for GS for my age in the world. I am ever so close to getting my goal for the season of being in the top five and having under 30 points. The slalom sadly didn’t go as planned, after a solid first run with a big mistake I failed to execute the second run, but there was some very good skiing in sections so I am pleased with how I am skiing slalom. I have two slalom races coming up this weekend in Le Relais, Canada, so I know that I have an opportunity to kill it in Slalom.

In the finish of the GS after the second run. Frustrated with my place but happy with a result and where I placed for kids my age!

I return home from Burke this week with my best FIS point result – 28 points in GS. This is one of the best scores for all of the 1996′s in the world. Now I just need to go out and nail another 20 point result to be the be the best ranked 1996 in the world! I am incredibly happy with this but I also know there is still a lot of time to score better than this. Its nice to see that finally all the hard work is paying off and my skiing is really going somewhere.

My team mate, Jack, and I taking first and second for Under 18′s

Although I have gone above and beyond my goals for this year the winter is far from done. I still have 17 races to go which means I have a huge amount of opportunity to score better than this 28! Its a day of rest today and then I put on the long skis, SG skis, for the first time in a while to race at Stowe!

Finishing sixth in GS and second for 1996 births resulted in good week for me. I am back in America and having serious withdrawal symptoms from being in Romania and living the Olympic dream. I have been at events where they have opening ceremonies and award ceremonies, but they were nothing compared to what I experienced at the European Youth Olympic games.

It all started in London with a kitting out and media day. We had 17 athletes and there was a whole room filled with boxes of Adidas clothing on crates. I cant even imagine what London was like with 600 and something athletes. The rest of the day was spent getting to know each other and doing some media stuff. Ended up being a long day but it made me want to get to Romania even faster.

Max, myself, and Billy on the kitting out and media day.

What greeted us on our beds. On that card is Amy Williams who won a gold at Vancouver in Skeleton. She was actually there with us as an ambassador. It was nice to hear from someone who has truly lived the full Olympic dream.

Sunday was our first day out in Romania and we kicked off early with some GS training. It was cool to be up there with all the Alpine skiers and see some friends from other countries. After a few runs on a training hill we got the opportunity to freeski on the race hill. I was blown away by the condition of it – amazing snow. Later that night we had the opening ceremony. I was amazed. The security was high and the amount of people watching was unbelievable. At least few thousand if not more were there to watch the opening ceremony. It was a truly amazing experience and it was probably the first moment that I really felt truly proud of myself for working this hard to get to where I am now!

As you can see I was very excited to train!

The stage at the opening ceremony. Thousands of people sitting and watching behind me.

It Tuesday morning, and its the first race for the men, and its GS. GS is my most confident discipline because of my consistency, which trumps my slalom. I was wired all morning to get up there and start racing. I was starting bib 19 so I knew I had an awesome opportunity to ski well. My performance went above my expectations and it really was the most amazing feeling I have felt in my career so far. I skied a solid first run that put me into seventh place, which I was pleased with although I still could of skied faster. Although being in seventh was great place to be for a Brit, it just wasn’t good enough for me and I was hungry for me. Second run I charged harder than I ever have and despite some big mistakes I skied my way into 6th place, which is the best result my any Brit at the European Youth Olympics. I actually finished second for the 1996 births, which is quite an achievement as I beat some very good skiers my age and the age above.

Trying to conceal the excitement during course inspection.

Max and I at the finish after the GS race.

My final photo of the day. I labelled this day bittersweet.

I say it was bittersweet, because on one hand, I proved that I am able to compete with the best Juniors in the world. I dont want to be able to compete with them, I want to beat them. On the other hand, it was bitter, because I know that if I skied two runs error free like I can, I may of had a chance to walk away with a medal. It was one of the best days of my career so far. It has made me even more hungry to reach the Olympics and win medals. I am certain there will be more days like this if not better.

Although this was a great day, the trip was far from over. Still had the slalom to go. I felt great during warm up and I knew I could ski a fast run even starting 32, but sadly I failed to execute and be precise and that caused me to not finish the first run. I was sad about it, but I definitely still walked away from the events with one big result!

Waxing my slalom skis.

Our photographer Matt playing around with his camera

I can’t express how amazing the experience and I cannot wait until I can do something like this again. I am now back in Vermont and I have a few days training before I have two GS races this weekend at Burke.

It has been pretty non-stop since I got off the plane at Boston only two and a half weeks ago. Somehow I have managed to squeeze in 9 races since then and be able to get a little bit of school work done too. It all started on in Whiteface which was by far the coldest three days of my life. Give or take, it was between -20 and -30 celsius all three days, which for those Americans reading, its gotta be somewhere between -10 and -20, which yet again is a give or take kinda thing. First day was the GS in which I could definitely feel the effects of just getting off a plane and driving five hours. First run was not so hot with a couple of small mistakes but I still made it down with a solid time and a good place of third. Second run came around and I skied a good solid run to finish up the race and score my best GS result yet, a 39. So to put it in perspective, flying across the Atlantic and driving five hours works in my favor. The next two days were Super-G which kinda went by. The first day was not so great but the second day I managed to put together a decent run to score a result, but still a lot of work to be down in that discipline.

Boom, then I get the weekend off, bliss, but just four days after the weekend I was off to Ontario, Canada for a series up there. All went well. I managed to ski two solid runs of slalom to claim my second FIS win and my best slalom result by ten… two bad I skied out the next day. That seems pretty routine of me. The GS races didn’t go as I hoped but the second day I still put down two decent runs to finish second.

The slalom at Craigleth

The Slalom Podium

Pre-DNF position

Post-DNF contemplating

As I am writing this I have just got back from Dartmouth where I raced the GS at the college carnival. That is about the highest level of racing you can get besides nor-ams in the US, so it was pretty cool to really test how my skiing was. I managed to conquer a flat and very unrhythmic course to narrowly miss out on scoring a second result in GS, but at least I scored Carnival points!

Dartmouth Skiway

2013 has been a pretty cool year so far, I have very little to complain about, if anything at all. That is probably good news for you readers, it means you don’t have to read a whole load of moaning about bad results and bad training, you can read about a solid month and some awesome training.

The year kicked off in Austria. Living in Zell am See, we had the world as our oyster. When I say that I really mean that we had a huge amount of places to train at. Its kind of the same thing when it comes to ski racing. Either way, we had a few really good days training at Hintereit and Maria Alm. After that it was a drive down to Italy for some racing and training. We raced at Tarvisio and Sappada at the beginning of the trip. Some ok results from there but nothing to shine light on. After that it was to our “base” San Candido to relax and train for a short block. We had some awesome days training and the pictures will talk for themselves below. Our next set of races were at Folgaria. This is my third year in a row at Folgaria, the first being for Topolino and the second being on the same Europe trip last year. I am quite fond on the place and I definitely wanted to set things straight with Folgaria this year – it was time to score some sweet results, and it was what I did. The GS was a pretty crazy course. I have never seen a course so across the hill in my life. It was a drag, but I hung in there first run and I finished second only 3/10ths behind and 24 point Italian skier, which is about as legit as it gets. Well guess what, I am one of those idiots that likes to choke after second run and blow my chances of scoring a best result. Either way I still finished a respectable 6th and just missed out on scoring a second GS result, but hey there are many more opportunities to come! After that we decided to cut our loses with the Italian cancellation rate and we packed up and went to stay at Haus Tirol in Leogang, the home of Ambition Racing, the very team I was once apart of. It was really nice to be back there and see the team again! The day after we arrived it was time to race at Maria Alm for a GS. I can definitely that I blew a good opportunity here. It was a sweet race with a low penalty and I was starting 17… total bummer. Either way I learnt from the mistakes and moved on. For the next few days we did some freeskiing and some site seeing to rest up before our races back in the US. Check out some of the best pics from our trip!

Plastic Shoes

The five of us at Hintereit

Day couldn’t get any better!

The view from the lift at Passo Monte Croche

Neil’s thoughts about the day.

Paulie…

Trevor and Paul at Hintereit.

The view at the top of Passo Monte Croche

Jackie watching some video during training.

Riding the lift at Dobiacco

Paulie doing his thing.

Stupid?