World Championships 2009
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We kicked off the 2009 World Snowboarding Championships tonight at Sungwoo Resort in Gangwon, Korea with the opening ceremonies. Team USA paraded in second to last, just in front of the host country, Team Korea. It was freezing outside, but a good ceremony, complete with a great fireworks show. I was fourteen years old at my first Swatch World Champs in Breckenridge, Colorado in 1987. As I marched in tonight to perhaps my last Worlds I reflected on all the World Championship events I’ve participated in over the past twenty plus years: Breckenridge, Ischgl, San Candido, Davos, Kreischberg, Arosa, Whistler, Heavenly, Madonna di Campiglio and a few more. I talked snowboarding with Team Iran and got some cool photos together tonight. The Iranian Snowboarders trained slalom with us today. They were super cool. That’s what World Champs and sport is really all about. We’re all just riders doing what we love. That is what brings us all together for this event.
The race hill looks sweet. It’s a hardcore pitch, steep and hard, one of the longest race runs of the winter, and the toughest. It demands the best. I had a great training session last week in Austria and am ready to go for it. I’m riding fast and know I can perform well. I worked hard last week with my coaches Jan and Steve on doing ten consistent runs at high speed. Parallel racing requires ten fast runs to win. There’s no doubt in my mind I’m riding fast, but need to do so ten times if I want to climb on the podium. I focused during training last week more on putting my snowboard in the right spot in the turn and pushing on it, and upper body discipline, rather than concentrating on going fast. Sometimes gripping the start handles as hard as I can and ripping them out of the ground trying to go as fast as I can isn’t the best approach for me. I didn’t worry about my time and I rode fast. I had some solid runs last week and am stoked. I’m ready to go for it and have fun racing next week and enjoy the World Champs one more time. We’re training the next two days and then racing PGS on Monday Jan. 20th and PSL on Tues. Jan. 21st. I’ll keep you posted. Enjoy the photos below.
CK
Team USA, Korea World Champs 2009, Photo Peter Foley
Team Iran and USA, Korea World Champs 2009, Photo Peter Foley
Talking with the Iranian Snowboarders