After a week of training in the Canadian Rockies, (rather than competing at the World Cup in Kreischberg, Austria) the Canadian Team regrouped in Seoul Korea for the World Championships.
Hyundai Sungwoo Resort in Korea cannot boast the largest mountain in the world, but it just might have the largest hotel in the world. The hotel has over 1000 apartments and rooms as well as shops and conference halls, a pool and gymnasium; it is truly a colossal building! The way that it was built in sections, means that some of the floors do not line up with each other. Getting to the 4th and 6th floors when the elevators only go to the 5th and 7th floors is sometimes a challenge as some of my teammates discovered when they got lost trying to go the team physiotherapist in room 407!
Eventually, everyone got where they needed to go and we celebrated the opening ceremonies of the World Championships. We had a parade of nations and I was honored to carry the Canadian flag for my team! After a few speeches, we were treated to a great fireworks presentation to kick off the start of the 2009 World Championships with style.
The day we had been waiting for finally arrived: competition day for the PGS event! After getting up early and warming up and making our way to the top of the course, we were met with our first delay of the day! Although the weather was perfect, there were some long delays throughout the race. After the confusion wore off, things got going and I laid down a decent first run; coming in 8th in my course. More confusion ensued, with an Austrian girl, Heidi Neureurer, being disqualified and finally we got to do our second qualification run. I qualified for the finals in 10th place, just behind my teammate Caro. Three of the Canadian men also qualified for the finals: Jasey, Matt and Mike.
We were excited to be competing in the finals and to have the chance to challenge for the title of World Champion. Caro and I battled the rough conditions, but got knocked out in the first round finishing 11th and 12th respectively. Mike made it past the first round, taking 8th place. Matt ended his day in 3rd place while Jasey took home the title of World Champion! We all ran into the finish area to hug and congratulate our Champ.
After the euphoria of the PGS event, we had to refocus and prepare ourselves for the next day’s PSL event. The race hill in Korea is quite steep and challenging with tricky snow conditions. I had a smooth (but slow) first run. My smooth riding tactics paid off in the second run, as the conditions worsened, and I qualified 11th for the finals. Jasey and Matt also made it into the finals, but the rest of the team was not so lucky. We all made it past the first round, but suffered mistakes and got knocked out. Jasey took 6th while Matt and I both placed 8th.
We celebrated a successful World Championships and packed our things for the long flight to Germany for the next World Cup event.
Check out the pictures from the opening ceremonies of the World Championships: Me carrying the big Canadian flag with my teammates. The halfpipe and big air. The girls in the marching band who were woefully underdressed for the -15 degree evening.
Kindest regards,
Alexa
