Are: Jitloff races like his future may be now

ARE, Sweden — Tim Jitloff, the ski racer with the sticker on his helmet thanking his doctor for fixing up his knee instead of the typical corporate logo, showed his future on the World Cup will be sooner rather than later after a breakout performance Wednesday at the World Championships.
ARE, Sweden — Tim Jitloff, the ski racer with the sticker on his helmet thanking his doctor for fixing up his knee instead of the typical corporate logo, showed his future on the World Cup will be sooner rather than later after a breakout performance Wednesday at the World Championships.
    A 22-year-old member of the U.S. Ski Team, Jitloff has never doubted his ability to ski at the highest levels of racing. And his result Wednesday — 18th place after starting deep in the order at No. 37 — will bolster his ever-growing confidence and that of his coaches who decided to bring Jitloff to Are and enter him in the technical events. [Read the latest Jit's Journal here]
   “I’ve got a lot of people going, ‘Who the hell are you?’ ” Jitloff laughed after the race. “But [my coaches] know, they kept their ear to the ground and know what’s going on. It was a privilege to come here and be able to display what it is I like to do.”
    What Jitloff likes to do is go as fast as possible on tough courses, and that’s what he found on Wednesday morning. Skiing conservatively in the first run was enough to vault him into 18th place. He held that position through the second run by skiing more aggressively in some places and smarter in others. 
    “In the first run I went for it and had some mistakes. The second run I went for it on top,” he said, “and toward the bottom I said, ‘I actually might make it down’ and I skied to get down. I learned next time around that you have to hammer both times no matter what.”
    Despite limited experience on the World Cup level, Jitloff said he’s learning quickly what it’s going to take to race with — and beat — the world’s best. He’s failed to finish a World Cup race in five starts since December but gaining confidence each and every trip down the course. His last start was the night slalom in the party-crazed atmosphere of Schladming, Austria. He failed to qualify for the second run but learned how to better cope with the distractions of a World Cup event. Jitloff brought that mental awareness into his training sessions with the team near Are and onto the race hill Wednesday.
    “I had no pressure coming into this, there’s nothing on my shoulders,” he said. “I came here looking for a good experience and to just really be clean and ski the way I have been skiing. And in training I’m just as fast as Ted [Ligety] and Jimmy [Cochran] and any of the guys on our team. I just need that opportunity, the good start number to show it.”
    And he needs to stay healthy, which helps explain the sticker on his helmet. Jitloff missed all of last season with a torn ACL, and he missed all of this past November rehabbing an injury. When he returned to the racecourse, he sizzled, winning a pair of NorAm events by wide margins. Still, his ticket to Are was an unexpected one.
    “As of January 1st, I would have definitely told you I wouldn’t be here. I’ll be at a Europa Cup in Germany or something on the ruts tour,” he said. 
    Instead, Jitloff is relishing his time here, and he planned to take a moment Wednesday night to celebrate his finish. But then it’s back to work Thursday in the slalom qualification race. He will be one of 97 starters looking to finish in the top 25 and punch a ticket to Saturday’s event and join teammates Miller, Ligety and Cochran. Jitloff’s got an early start number Thursday, seventh out of the gate.
    “There’s no pressure there, I can just hammer the hell out of it,” he said.