This is an update from former Red Mountain Racer and alpine Olympic hopeful Sasha Zaitsoff.
The final prep period and the first races of this season are now done and out of the way.
The past month was spent at a variety of resorts in Colorado with training and racing in Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain and Loveland.
At the NorAm races in Vail, I finished with a career best result and a podium finish. After many fourth place finishes it was very satisfying to finally step onto the slalom podium. I feel it’s a good indication of things to come.
I am confident in my skiing right now and have continued to better my results in the early season. However, I still see room for improvement, so with more hard work I will get to where I want to be this season.
January is traditionally the busiest month of the World Cup season, with 14 starts between all the disciplines. My focus through the next month is going to be mostly on slalom.
I started in the Slalom World Cup in Bormio, Italy on Jan. 6. This is a replacement race for Zagreb, as the race was moved due to the lack of snow.
I will also be starting in Adelboden, Switzerland on Jan. 12.
Currently I am guaranteed to start in the Bormio and Adelboden races and if all goes well I will qualify to race at Wengen Switzerland, Kitzbuhel Austria, and Schaldming Austria.
These races are the final qualifying races for the Olympics, which are now only some 40 days away. There is mounting pressure to do well and I am a little nervous to be heading over for these races but I am ready to rise to the challenge and represent Canada in Russia.