Great News is that since the end of last winter I have moved from 108th in the world to 68th overall and from 10th to 7th for my age in the world. In January I competed in my first World Cup competition (same level as Olympics, except more difficult as more athletes are allowed to attend). It prepared me well for when I move full time on the World Cup tour with the Canadian Team as now I know better what to expect. A lot of this accomplishment is because of my support team without whom I wouldn’t have gotten off the ground.
Good News is that I have landed on the podium again at Sugar Bowl, my first North American Cup medal ever, as you can see in the picture. It was a tough race and involved me taking out two racers in the semi-finals and in the Final’s I had the worst lane choice in the start but moved in to 3rd position quickly. I maintained that position blocking Ontario’s David Holmes until the 3rd last jump. I decided to try and make an pass on Stan Rey in 2nd (not so smart now, but seemed like a worthwhile plan at the time), ending up flying 40 feet off of a 10 foot ‘hip jump’. When I landed on the flats well beyond the landing, I lost all feeling in my feet and legs from the shock and was hit in the face by my knee, I knew that I still had to try to cross the finish line. I immediately started skating to get my speed up when I was passed by Holmes and moved safely to the finish line to claim 4th place.
To be improved upon: Having trained on snow in November and December on a race course would have helped get me closer to achieving my goal of qualifying for and winning the Olympics this year (slight financial limitations). We all know that what I achieved these past two years since changing to this skiing discipline and aiming for 2010 far exceeded what would have been possible without dreaming big and going for it. The way I look at it now is this way: The Canadian 2010 Olympic Skicross team has an average age of 30 and I am still 21. With those who choose to support me, I will embark on a four year journey to continue with my work ethic and dedication to when I realistically take home the gold for us in 2014 in Sochi Russia and moving forward to the 2018 Olympics. I’m more excited that ever before because now I actually know it’s possible.
This winter I’m still planning on finishing the North American Cup tour with the BC Skicross Team to do my best in winning the Overall title as well as improving my result at Canadian Nationals from last year. I will not go back to Europe for more European Cup races as it’s not financially feasible this time around.
I’m honoured to have been chose to ‘forerun’ (opening the track on race day) for Skicross at the Olympics later this month, get glued to your TV because this will be the best Olympic’s Canadian history!
Big thank you to Virtually Canadian, Bell Alliance and Vancity without whom I would not have made it through this past month of racing.
Sven
Tags: Journal · Press Releases · Races · Training · Want to help SEND SVEN 2010?
I hope you had a great summer. Just checking in to say that I’m a couple spots closer to GOLD!
From my racing in Australia and New Zealand in August I moved from 14th in the world for my age to 10th! TOP 10 BABY!!!!
This excites me for the next qualification race in December where I will be even stronger and faster because of my intense training with Revamped Fitness at Versus 21… I need to move up another 8 spots on that list and I know that I can do it.
Tags: Journal · Press Releases · Races · Training
September 27th, 2009 · No Comments
In August I went down to Mt. Hotham Australia and Cardrona New Zealand for the Austrialia New Zealand Cup and New Zealand Winter Games!
Mt Hotham Race 1:
6th Place
Mt Hotham Race 2:
5th Place - New result to improve world ranking
Cardrona (NZ Winter Games):
Cancelled, weather.
All and all the numbers mean very little to you, but rest assured that I improved my world ranking from 89th to about 83rd and from 14th to 11th for my age in the world.
One more step forward in some tough races!
Next step: Germany European Cup at Grasgehren December 11th which will qualify me to get my last shot to qualify for the 2010 Olympics in my hometown!
I’m totally excited and busy ‘getting jacked’ so that I can take out my competition at the next race. I’m just fired up and ready to go!!
Tags: Journal · Races
Hola Amigos!
The racing season is finally over. My final week of racing was the most exciting part of the season by far. I peaked for my most important races of the winter. My new national ranking is 10th from Canadian Nationals at Calgary AB and I came 2nd and 6th respectively at American ‘Spring Series’ at Sugar Bowl CA. At Canadian Nationals I scored a 86.40 and from my second place in California I scored a 72.00. If these numbers mean nothing to you, sufficed to say, combined they will earn me a rank inside the top 10 or top 15 in the World for my age (official world rankings list to be published mid April).
From my debut in this sport March 2008 (when I switched from Alpine Ski Racing to Skicross), I have improved my result at Canadian Nationals from top 15 to top 10. Next year my goal is to earn myself a full time spot on the World Cup tour. Yes it’s true that my goal for a long time has been to win the 2010 Olympics in my hometown, I have not given up on that goal. I have established for myself that because I am the youngest guy in the top 10 in Canada by a decent margin I have two to three Olympics ahead of me to achieve my Olympic Gold and will not rest until I achieve it.
This summer I will be living in Vancouver and doing ski training at Whistler, Austrialia and New Zealand. I will also be stepping up my fitness training program to 2-5 hours a day 6 days a week as appropriate. I look forward to training with the National Team in Whistler later this month and competing in Continental cups and a pro-series in the southern hemisphere in August.
Thank you for your support over the Winter! I look forward to sharing another successful year with you.
Look forward to some exciting announcements in a couple weeks for the SEND SVEN 2010.COM campaign!
Cheers
Tags: Journal · Press Releases · Races · Training
March 17th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Hello Everyone! I’m back from an exciting trip to Europe where I competed in my first European Cup races. My goal for this trip was to gain the experience necessary to move ahead in this sport and that is just what I did. I had a highlight result of qualifying 10th and finishing 17th in a field of 90 at Sierra Nevada Spain. I also competed in Bormio Italy and Alpe D’Huez France. You can find two photo albums of pictures on my Facebook fan page from this trip. I have now returned to the Canadian Rockies for my final races of the season: a North America Cup at Rossland BC and Canadian National Championships at COP (Calgary) Alberta. The race in Rossland will be on the 19th with finals in the early afternoon and the race in Calgary will be on the 23rd with the finals at 5pm. For all of my fans in Calgary it would be great to see you at Nationals!
Once these races are over I will compete in one more local race in Whistler BC to hold on the the title I won last year and start my fund raising and sponsorship drive for 2010 with some VERY exciting announcements in April!
In May and June I plan on attending classes at Quest University Canada, located just between Whistler and Vancouver, in Squamish BC. For those of you who don’t know, I started studying at Quest last summer as a member of their Elite Athlete Program. They have the only program I know of in Canada that successfully allows me to complete my degree at a schedule that fits perfectly in to my training and racing program. I look forward to returning!! There is a Quest ‘Preview Day’ coming up on Saturday the 28th of March and another on Saturday April 18th. Preview days are by far the best way to find out about Quest. For more information feel free to message me or visit www.questu.ca
Check back soon for race results!
Tags: Journal · Races
I started off my European tour with two good results in Sierra Nevada Spain. I was astonished to find out that Sierra Nevada is at the south of Spain! On the way from Malaga (where we flew in to) to Sierra Nevada we made a quick pit stop on the side of the highway to dip our feet in the Mediterranean Ocean, only 17km from the coast of Africa!
Now to the serious stuff; the racing was great. The race course was at 3000m and the conditions were sunny and incredibly dry. The first race was the Spanish National Championships on the 25th. I qualified 21st and finished in 23rd; a new best result of 23.20 points.
On the 26th was my first European Cup! I qualified 10th (with a similar field as the prior day) and started the 1/8th finals. Out of the gate I was tied with a Swiss racer (who finished 3rd overall), after the first turn I was in the lead until I made a ‘pilot error’ coming in to the 4th turn. I was quickly dropped to 4th in that round and was consolidated with a 17th place result and a new best result of 44 points! I had never before come out in front in a big race like this before and now that I have experienced it I am ready to carry through with a win in the next race. I was the top guy from our team of 5 in this competition, having trailed my team mates in the last competition we had in Red Mountain BC. I have my racing feet underneath me and am much better prepared for our next competition in Bormio Italy with will be on the 7th of March!
If I get a good result at Bormio I will be racing the World Cup at Grindelwald Switzerland shortly thereafter.
Tags: Journal · Races
Wow that was one exciting weekend of racing! I ranked 3rd in the qualification round (individual) and ended up in 6th due to a good story. In my semi final round, 3 of 4 crashed and one was disqualified. Coming in to the 3rd last turn I Eric was ranked in first, I was in second and teammates Ian and Tory were in 3rd and 4th respectively. Ian crashed off a jump at that point and Tory missed a gate to avoid Ian crashing (and was disqualifies). In the second last turn of the course Eric lost a ski. I was too close to him at that moment and I too lost a ski. We both went barreling off the course. For those wondering no one was injured. Ian was the first to get back up from his crash and finish the heat followed by Eric and myself. Tory took forth in that round for missing a gate. Keeping in mind that only the top two from each round move up, I was cut out of the finals.
This was a great experience for me as as 4 of the top 5 athletes in the race were in my semi final round and there were enought things that went wrong for me to learn from them all and be prepared for these situations much better when I fly to Europe on Friday. I will be racing a variety of European Cup, National Championships, and other internation races in Spain, France and Italy all in three weeks. I will then return to Red Mountain for a North America Cup and Western Canadian Championships and strait to our own National Championships which will be held at COP in Calgary late March.
I look forward to racing in Europe representing Canada. My results at these races will enable me to earn a spot on the World Cup tour for 09/10.
Semi Final round at Red Mountain
3rd last turn, I’m in Second
Tags: Journal · Races
February 8th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Hi All!
Sorry for the late post! I was in Copper Colorado from January 22nd to 29th for North America Cup races. On the first day of races (26th) I crashed in the 2nd qualification round quite severely and spent the next eight hours in hospital. It turns out that I made a tactical error and tried to double a set of rollers that I should not have and ended up face planing into the third roller of that set. I blacked out for just over a minute. Good news is that I qualified for the finals and walked out of the hospital with a couple of bruises. I was not able to move very quickly for the next week.
I was back on skis February 5th for the World Cup at Cypress (Vancouver 2010 Olympic venue). I walked strait in to fore running the qualification round and had I been racing I would have placed 65th with a time of 1:19.24 even though I missed both of the official training days on course. I was left with a disadvantage but wanted to give it my best shot. My coach Greg Frechette was proud of my performance and has given me a couple things to work on.
Tomorrow I’m off to Red Mountain (Rossland BC) for a training camp and BC Championships before I fly off to Europe for several European Cup races.
Tags: Journal · Races
Yesterday I found the top step of the podium in the Kokanee Super-G race here at Whistler!
I have improved my technique and am getting ready to depart for the ’season opening’ ski cross races. For the last week of the month I will be at Copper Mountain Colorado for two open races and two North America Cup ski cross races. I found out the qualification criteria for the World Cup at Cypress (Vancouver) in early February is for me to get a result in the top 50% in the competitors at the continental cup. I’m pumped because I know I can do it.
My goal is to qualify for the finals, then kick a**!
Tags: Journal · Races
