TLDR: Results Finland: 4th SBX, Switzerland: 1st SBX, USA: 6th,6th,3rd SBX, Canada: 10th BS, 12th SBX.
After a quick summer break over the new year, I took off on the next leg of the season, returning to the northern hemisphere ready to give it a solid crack. Our first stop was Pyhä, Finland, for a Snowboard cross(SBX) event. I finally made my return to the track, it had been over 5 years since I’d last raced SBX on the para circuit and to be honest I was little nervous. Finland was once again cold and dark which is standard for January. But when the sun did peep its head over the horizon between 11am and 1pm it was pure magic.
The week-long training camp went well but I took a pretty solid crash over the big kicker snapping my race board and straining my ankle. Fortunately it wasn’t too serious so by the time the weekend came around I was able to race. After setting the fastest time in qualifications I was feeling confident and breezed through the heats into the big final. In the big final was Krupa(Slovakian), Davy(UK), Matti(Finnish) and myself. I was pretty frothing to make the big final first event back and overfrothed clipping the tail of my board on the start gate as we got underway. I was behind from the get-go and couldn’t catch the other three riders on course so I finished 4th place on the europa cup.
Following Finland, we journeyed to Lenk, Switzerland, for the next europa cup events. Lenk, making its debut on the Para Snowboard circuit. In a quick turnaround we had the official training and qualifications on the same day. I qualified 1st at the time trails but unfortunately rough weather cancelled the finals the following day. The results from qualifications counted handing me my first Podium for the season!
With momentum on my side, the next stop on the circuit took us too Steamboat Springs in Colorado USA the final stop before the World Championships. First day back we had an epic pow day at nearby Keystone resort. 30cm of fresh snow, bluebird skies and long steep black runs made for the best conditions all season. Over at Steamboat the sbx course was slow with the fresh snow making line choice crucial for maintaining and generating speed.
Having earned enough points in the European cup I was able to move up to the world cup level at steamboat. We had two world cup races over two days, where I lost in the semi finals both days earning me a pair of 6th placed finishes. The Final day of racing was the North American Championships. It was another bluebird day and I had a great qualifying run which gave me a better heat draw than the previous days. I made it through the semi’s and kept the momentum going in the final to finish in 3rd place. Although not as prestigious as the world cup, it was nice to stand on the podium again. To top it off at the end of the day we got to ride the 22ft superpipe which was super scary but very fun.
Steamboat moved into the rearview and we moved onto Big White, Canada for the season crescendo, the Para-Snowboard World Championships. This was my 4th time coming to Big White and with all the aussies that work the ski season there it felt like homeground. With a bit of fanfare, we had the opening ceremony. The organisers linked up with a local primary school to have each country led through the village by a student. I was given the honour of flag bearer for Team Australia which consisted of three athletes, two coaches, wax tech, physio and a sports psych.
Banked Slalom was first up and the course was a long one. 21 banked turns stretched out over a minute downhill had the legs burning by the end of the course. With the extra numbers at world champs training was limited to three runs. I tried a different line each run low, high and mid. After talking with the coaches, we thought mid to high for the top section and mid to low for the bottom would be fastest.
Race day we were met with overcast conditions and temps around -3. We had one training run to adjust to the course and then everyone got two timed runs with only the fastest time counting. I put down two pretty clean runs with my second run being my best at a 1.13s. This was fast enough for me to place 10th overall. My teammates Ben Tudhope and Aaron Mcarthy finished 5th and 12th in their respective categories.
Next up was the snowboard cross. Training day flew by with the course running fast and technical, top speed being around 70 kph. Race day was again met with overcast conditions this time with a little more wind around. We had our one training run to adjust to the course and then the timed qualification straight after. My balance was a little off through the start section costing me some time and qualifying 12th for the heat draw.
The field was cut from 23 athletes to 16 after qualies so my first heat would be a quarterfinal. My competitors alongside me in the quarters were Luch(Italian), Pengwang(Chinese) and Masa(Japanese). I had a good start out of the gate and was sitting in third in front of Masa after the first turn and keeping up with Luch and Pengwang until the mid course step-up where they turned on the afterburners. I held off a late challenge from Masa to finish third but only the top two advance to the next round. So my qualification result of 12th stayed the same.
We had one more day on snow freeriding and then it was season wrap followed by some celebrations at Snowshoe Sam’s. Each event this season has been a stepping stone, building confidence and highlighting areas for improvement leading into next years Winter Paralympic Season.
Thanks everyone for the support I’m keen to carry this momentum forward and keep things rolling for next season.
Cheers,
Polly
This Newsletter was made possible by the support from:
The AIS
KRC Construction
Joel Spiteri Tattoo
Hightides Furniture
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