It’s been a very exciting season so far for Sun Peaks’ own World Cup slalom specialist Elli Terwiel.
In January Elli had her second 17th place finish of the season, but more importantly she placed second in the second run. And, even more importantly she skied like she deserved to be there.
In a World Cup technical race (giant slalom and slalom) only the top 30 finishers get a second run. The start positions for this second run are reversed, so the racer who finished 30th in the first run starts first in the second run.
Lately, Elli’s been starting around bib number 46 — not an easy place to begin as 45 other racers have beaten up the track before she’s getting a run at it. And, yet, even with the difference in the conditions of the course only a couple of seconds separates the first and 30th racer.
So, starting closer to the front clearly betters a racer’s chance to finish up front, but to get a top 30 starting position, they need to consistently finish in the top 30. The better the racer finishes, the more World Cup points they earn and the closer they get to starting near the front.
The top ranking seven skiers in the world are drawn in the first seed in every race and the next eight in the second seed. Racers ranking 16 to 30 start according to how many W.C. points they’ve accumulated. So, when a racer’s cracking the top 30 for the first few times it’s very, very nerve-racking.
There’s pressure to ski well even while TV coverage is everywhere. Sometimes racers who are qualifying for the second run for the first couple times ski conservatively, or the pressure gets to them and they make mistakes. Confidence to attack in the second run comes with experience, and finishing well can make or break a career.
Back to Elli’s second run in Maribor, Slovenia. She attacked and skied like someone who’s been there hundreds of times before. She skied the top better than I’ve ever seen her ski, made a bobble in the middle section and lost the line (late pressure) but she skied the line back up the hill (meaning she got back on line without scrubbing any speed) and finished second in the run. This was huge for her confidence but also told the world that she deserves to be there.
Speaking with Elli in Schladming, Austria while she was training for her first World Championships I asked her to explain her experiences.
“Making it to World Champs is the dream of most ski racers,” she said. “It’s the second largest event for alpine skiing (next) to the Olympics and is a very good training arena for the ‘main event.’ (It’s run) like any other World Cup, with about twice the viewers and way more hype. In training we have people coming up to us and congratulating us on our team’s results, people stand on the side of our courses and take photos and video of us training, little kids come up and ask to take photos with you (often at inopportune times with my mouthguard still in — very attractive). To say I’m excited is an understatement, and yet this feels the same as any other race for me. It’s just a race, on a bigger stage.”
Elli finished 28th in the Schladming World Championships, separated from the winner by less than six seconds.
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