Progressing!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here’s to an even better 2016!

Its time for an update! My November and December was very busy with a total of 7 races all before Christmas. There has been a combination of great results, disappointment, lessons learned and inspiration found!

IMG_6693I started off with the Austrian National Champs where I placed 3rd and a European Cup where I placed 6th. This was a great result to kick off my season after the hard work back in NZ on and off the snow and is interesting to see where I stand against my competitors after working away in isolation down under.

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The first world cup of the season was in Montafon, Austria. Unfortunately I did not qualify. I had some very fast skiing in the splits but a costly mistake in the middle lots me valuable time which you can’t afford to make with the entire field being so close together.
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 Val Thorens, France. This track is known as the longest and course features the largest on tour. My very first training run, I pulled out of the start strongly and into a super aggressive aerial style jump that sent me FLYING in the wrong direction! Have a look at the video below. Unfortunately I crashed, landed on my side and re-injured my bothersome shoulder. But that didn’t stop me and I ended up qualifying for the finals in 1 of the races. I did not progress through a further round.   
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San Candido. Italy. With the extreme lack of snow throughout Europe the venue did an amazing job to hold such a high quality event. I came away with my best qualification result ever being a 17th place. The finals didn’t go like I had hoped after a fast start and I then got squeezed on the outside and was not able to make it through.  
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All in all, I am happy with where I am at, I haven’t quite put it all together in finals like I hoped, but everything is there! This sport throws numerous twists and turns that are often not in your control. I am staying patient and I am still motivated as ever.   

During the Christmas break I managed to find some cheap flights down to the country of Malta (south of Italy). It was great to get away from the snow and explore all the amazing history, while also smashing out a big physical training block which will help get me through the next couple of months! 

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The next block will keep me busy with 8 different country stops in 8 weeks! Stay tuned for more updates. For more regular updates make sure you like/ follow my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jamiepreb/

Cheers Jamie.

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