Jit's Journal: The sweet and sour in ski racing

If you tend to presume that the life a professional ski racer is a dream come true, then you may want to re-assess your train of thought. More times than not, being a ski racer is the equivalent of being a student in the art of dealing with failure.
    Now I know some of you might think that statement is a joke, but the reality is that there is no punch line there. This sport has a way of breaking you to your knees and if it had its way, never letting you back up.
IF YOU TEND to presume that the life a professional ski racer is a dream come true, then you may want to re-assess your train of thought. More times than not, being a ski racer is the equivalent of being a student in the art of dealing with failure.
    Now I know some of you might think that statement is a joke, but the reality is that there is no punch line there. This sport has a way of breaking you to your knees and if it had its way, never letting you back up. The few moments of success are sweet but the constant hammering of failure can take its toll on a person no matter how mentally strong they are. I have over time adapted and learned how to cope with these pains that leave me feeling strained and at times lost. However, no matter how well you learn to refocus and get reinvigorated, the scars don’t always leave you.
    These days the sport at the top level is so competitive that in a World Cup or Europa Cup race, 60 men can finish within 2.5 seconds of each other. One mistake and you might as well pack your bags and make your way to the next race. In the World Cup GS at Beaver Creek I was having a fantastic run going, only 0.33 out at the first split and feeling really good. However, right as I came onto the flat after Screech Owl I almost fell over because one of the gates was washed out and in really bad shape (I wasn’t the only one to do this). I saved myself, but since it was right as you come onto a long flat I lost all my speed and my whole day. I was beyond mad, especially since it was the home race and I had family there. So I did what I always do: I regrouped and refocused on the positives for the next race.
    In the Bad Kleinkirchheim World Cup GS (the next race) I was totally re-motivated again to push out of the gate and give it everything I had — and I did. I was skiing great again; in fact I was the 15th fastest skier on the top section, but as I was arcing through a tough turn I hit a rut that bounced me onto my hip and skipped me out of the course. I slid and watched the gate fly by me and there was nothing I could do. It was the first time I hadn’t made it to the finish in a GS in a long time. The frustration I felt in that moment was unbearable. I was skiing really well and just like that it gets taken away from me. I just looked up at the sky and wished I could get something to finally go my way. Some form of luck, anything! I found myself with another tough day to try and move past.
    So you see it isn’t always smiles and happiness. I wish it could be but that isn’t the reality. I can’t always write about the positive side of things because then I would be lying to you. I’m a positive ambassador to my sport but I’m also human. I’m a ski racer. I risk my mental and physical health so I may one day actually be able to say I was the fastest guy, or to simply pay some bills. People can and have died doing this. Ever wonder how many guys on the tour have blown out their knees, broken their necks, backs, legs just to say that on that given day they were the best skier. Can you imagine what it is like to build up the courage day in and day out that it takes to throw yourself down a wall of ice that scars you? Or even admit to yourself that you’re scared to begin with. You can be very successful in ski racing and make off having achieved all your hopes and dreams, but at what cost does that success come, if it ever does?
    Finally, if things are as tough as I make them out to be, why is it then that so many racers like me continue with this tug of war?
    In the end I like to think it’s because those moments of success, though few and difficult to achieve, give us hope, and in some small way a measure of personal peace.

    — Jit

Thanks to my sponsors:
Dynastar Skis
Lange Boots
Uvex Helmets and Goggles
Swix Poles
(Looking for a helmet sponsor, contact Ken Sowles@kensowles.com)