I spent the week up at Hotham, my first time on snow this season. We were faced with variable difficult weather conditions. High winds, snowing, bad visibility and different snow conditions. The Hotham events team did a great job, putting a lot of effort into getting the course prepared for an inspection and training on Friday.

On Saturday morning we were faced with similar conditions and we managed to get the qualification run off the ground.

I was happy with my run, particularly after I entered one of the berms in the middle of the run expecting it to be ice. Committing to the turn appropriately I found it was windblown soft snow which threw me back hitting my back on the ground pulling myself forward to continue the run, qualifying in second place. The weather was too bad, and the snow too soft in areas to make it safe, so the finals were postponed until Sunday morning.

On Sunday morning the conditions were still difficult but the snow was harder and the course had been worked on. After qualifying in second, I ended up with good gate selections and progressed into the big final.

I was pleased to find myself in such a good position after what has been a difficult year. It was myself, Katya (AUS), Yulia (RUS) and Violetta (RUS). I had a decent start but have to say I was just very slow along the top flat and found myself right on the back of Violetta in fourth place.

As we progressed down the course, Violetta moved out to take more direction into the hip jump and I went more straight, causing us both to scream and land on top of each other over the hip, thank fully we both stayed up and it was close coming into the final turns. I finished in fourth position.

I was pretty happy with the result as much as I would have liked to have held my second place, but it was a good quality final and good racing.

In the second event, I qualified in third place behind Katya(AUS) and Yulia(RUS) which I was again pretty pleased with. I progressed through each of the final heats and found myself achieving a nice overtake across the bridge in the semi final rounds and yet again found myself comfortably in the big final.

It was the same four of us battling for the podium once again. I had a pretty good start and once again just found myself slow across those top rollers. There wasn’t any overtaking and I managed to enter the last couple of turns and crash out.

After all the hiking up to the start gate which was about 200m above the chairlift fighting a head on wind, and two events worth of heats plus training runs all in one day, all our legs were pretty spent!

All in all it was a great weekend of racing and I was stoked to find myself comfortably in the big final for both events.

Onward to New Zealand now so I will be in touch soon!

Related categories: 2010, Olympics, Sarah Sauvey, Ski Cross

I thought it was about time to write and give an update of where I am and what I am up to.

As you will see I have spent some time giving my website a facelift! I had quite a lot of new photos and content after my Olympic debut. I returned to Melbourne end of March, straight back into week four of university.

I played catch up at university and had a few, much needed, weeks break from training and tried to let my injuries heal up. I tried to get some wakeboarding in, but sadly that injury to my shin when I hit the fence persisted in giving me grief. I had a great time away at Bonnie Doon nonetheless.

I managed to pick up a job as a mascot. I work usually three or four times a week as Gilbert the Gecko which has proved to be really good fun. I am also assisting to run the snow sports dry-land programme at a local school.

I am still working as a personal assistant as well when needed. I have started back physical training and I’m coming into my last week for this semester at University. I will be completing my last subject next semester and should have my degree in Multimedia (Business Marketing) come November.

My three jobs are flexible and with just one subject at University next semester it should allow me quite a lot of time for training leading up to the next northern season. I am unsure of my plans this southern season, but I will try to get on snow if I can. I have been asked to do a photo shoot in New Zealand early September which is awesome.

My injuries are getting better and physical gains are coming back slowly. I also got my Olympic bib and all the 17 nation pins that I spent so much time collecting, framed and it looks great!

I will be in touch soon!

Related categories: 2010, Olympics, Sarah Sauvey, Ski Cross

I rocked up to the event in Meiringen hobbling with bandages in my boots and anti-inflammatories. They moved the course at Meiringen which I was happy about. The course looked good. It was very busy but I knew with the pain that I was in this was going to be difficult. I took four painkillers and started training.

The course was so busy that first run I got a little lost and missed one section. I could feel the pain in my lower legs. The second run was an improvement and the third was going even better until I headed into the fastest section of the course where there was a jump into a long compression with an up jump.
As I was heading into the up-jump at full speed and approaching the take off, the gate keeper suddenly raised a yellow flag and I couldn’t do anything! I started to panic. I straightened my leg as a natural reaction, knowing that there was another competitor lying on the other side off the jump but I had no idea where.

This caused me to launch off the jump and whilst in mid-air I saw Sanna Luedi (SUI) lying in the fence. I knew that I wasn’t going to hit her but I was heading straight for the fence lower down. I landed with a fence fast approaching and only had one thought in my head “Broken legs for sure.” Then a split second later BANG! I was at full speed with flat skis straight into a fence.

Isi the Spanish coach and one of the Canadian coaches came running over to help. I was in pain but was OK considering. Now my tibia and fibula joint was really hurting me! My shin, well I had just gone straight over the top of them into a fence, so they were killing me and somehow I managed to pull my groin quite badly, and was unable to lift my leg.

Any normal person would say: “OK stop now!” But no, I got to the top, in a decent amount of pain, to find out that training had been extended by five minutes because of my crash and of course the only person who didn’t get another run because of it was me! It didn’t make a lot of sense. I took four more pain killers (taking the total to eight) and decided I wanted to do my qualification run so as not to finish the season with a full speed crash into the fence to dwell on over summer.

Struggling to move at the top, with tears streaming down my face and the people closest to me on the circuit saying: “Sar maybe you should just stop now”, I started my qualification run. I produced a terrible time and knew that my next stop was home.

Ken was shocked I managed to finish granted my physical condition. I left Meiringen limping, knowing I was already finished mentally and emotionally but now I was finished physically as well. Just to top it off, I had broken my race skis as well. Brilliant!

A huge thanks to you Ken. Your help was very much appreciated. I spent the next 24 hours hobbling around stiff with whip lash, trying to book myself back to Australia as soon as possible.

A few minor things I need to achieve in the next 48 hours or so:

1. Getting to France to pick up my car after the back suspension broke off on the highway and we left it near a garage on the side of the road a month and a half earlier.
2. Driving the Vectra 12 hours back to the UK knowing that it probably won’t make it further than Dijon
3. Changing my flight from Heathrow to Melbourne ASAP
4. Cancelling my flight to Spain (where the last World Cup was)
5. Making it in time to catch my ferry to the UK after missing two buses and two trains to go and get my car, and what should have taken four and half hours taking 12.
6. Leaving the Vectra in Fareham with family and getting to Heathrow with my entire luggage then venturing into London to pick up yet another bag of kit I had left there.
7. A short 32 hour journey home London to Melbourne via Honk Kong and Auckland.
8. Catch up on three weeks of university that I have missed

A busy time, but I am looking forward to getting home, and spending the next month resting and catching up on University.

“On the road again…like a band of gypsies we go down the highway…”

Related categories: 2010, Olympics, Sarah Sauvey, Ski Cross

Chio arrived shortly after me into Geneva airport and we got a lift to the Formula 1 hotel with the French team guys for the night, slightly embarrassed that my skis were in a long plastic bag. The next morning we were greeted by Isi and Martin (Spanish coach and Tech) who had just completed a 20-hour drive from Granada and we threw our stuff in the back of the van and literally jumped right in on top of it!

We arrived in Grindelwald Switzerland and shortly after we arrived I was greeted by Ken Chance-Larsen. Ken is the physio who had been sent out from the UK by TASS (but he is Norwegian). I had told poor Ken that I didn’t have any injuries, but by this stage, my tibia and fibula joint was killing me from being smashed in Branas and my shins on my right leg were giving me serious grief.

I took painkillers and persisted with the training. Ken later bandaged my shin inside my boot as it was swelling right along the inside of the bone. Struggling with suspected stress fractures, I was unable to pressure my skis properly and I knew that the end of my season was drawing near.

Sadly the vital turn in the course at Grindelwald is a high speed compression type turn on your right foot with bumps. Not surprisingly, this is the area of the course I lost all my speed on in qualification and due to only 31 girls finishing; I made the finals in 30th position…eeeek! This was getting worse and worse.

The first day of finals the fog came in and you literally couldn’t see anything. They decided after running seven out of the eight girls’ heats they would postpone it until the next day and re start the whole race. Fortunately the weather was fantastic on the next day and we pulled a great race off. I knew nothing was going to help my shins now, so I just gave the start my all, had a decent one and then of course got overtaken in the vital turn which I tried to pressure my ski but just got pushed down and overtaken.

I followed on down and nearly had a large crash off the last jump. I entered the jump still on my edge, I came off, headed backwards in the air and I was sure I was gone, but somehow landed on both edges (putting further stress on my already sore tibia and fibula joint near my knee) and somehow managed to hold it crossing the finish line, shaking my hand as if to say “phew that was close!” The swelling down my shin had moved even further down extending about 20cm down my shin. Feeling like a bit of an invalid it was off to Meiringen to give it a shot!

Related categories: 2010, Olympics, Sarah Sauvey, Ski Cross

After spending much of my time at the Olympics filled with disappointment, suddenly it was the losing ceremony and Team GB was off on a British Airways flight back to London. The next event was in Sweden in Branas and whilst I felt like I wasn’t really there mentally or emotionally, I made myself press on as usual. I flew to Stockholm Arlanda and got a lift with Tuomas from Finland to Branas (about five hours away) rocking out to his favourite death metal tracks along the way…I was stoked when he pulled out his Roxette CD for a change… I can assure you!!

The course in Branas last year was amazing. It was fast paced, had lots of features, big jumps down the last flat, and big double/triple along the last run into the last jump. I had always planned to at least finish the season with Branas as the course was great.

However, this year it was flat and had no features with tiny rollers you could absorb and ended up a total gliding race. In training I managed to get off balance in the air off the last jump, landing on my inside edge and I think hitting my femur straight onto the top of my tibia and fibula joint. It was nothing painkillers couldn’t get rid of! So other than star-fishing off the first jump, I just wasn’t fast which just added to my mental and emotional burden. Chio had an equally disappointing time there in Branas and we both decided maybe the Europa Cups in Spain were looking more appealing than the following World Cups in Switzerland.
Unfortunately due to the bad weather the races in Spain looked like they weren’t going to go ahead, so it was a five-hour, Death Metal filled ride back to Stockholm with Tuomas (greatly appreciated) and onwards to Geneva. I did find it a little strange at Arlanda Stockholm Airport (the supporting airport of the Swedish Olympic Team) that when I tried to check in my 20kg ski bag with two pairs of race skis inside, that they refused. I was informed that it is against the airport rules to have two pairs of skis in one bag.

Now I got to be honest, I am not convinced that Anja Paerson travelled to the Olympic Games with 20 ski bags for her 20 pairs of skis. But even better, they handed me a plastic bag to put the other pair in. I am also not convinced that Anja Paerson travelled with her race skis in plastic bags either! With tears dwelling in my eyes, I asked to speak to a manager and tried to explain to them that I simply could not travel with my world cup race stock competition skis in a plastic bag. After 45 minutes of arguing, a long queue accumulating behind me, and my boarding time approaching, I gave in and yes my world cup skis travelled to Geneva in a Scandinavian airlines plastic bag.

What was better upon arrival in Geneva was bumping into Jeff Sadis, the Techie for a few girls on the circuit, who had lost his entire luggage and was fuming. However, he managed to crack a big smile and have a good laugh as I cruised up to him with my skis in a SAS plastic bag over my shoulder. It was then that Jeff came out with one of the finest comments I have ever heard and it was so accurate that it almost made me cry: “It scares me how much of this sport is not to do with what you actually do on the race course.”

And that is right there, the story of my skiing career.

Related categories: 2010, Olympics, Sarah Sauvey, Ski Cross