First of all, I will finish where I left my last blog. I was in the lap of luxury in Steinplatte Austria. That didn’t last too long before we headed to Tarvisio, Italy for the World Championships. This is the second biggest event on the alpine skiing calendar, and happens only once every two years. There is a welcoming opening ceremony and a bib draw ceremony before the races, with bands and speeches and lots of fun and then a closing ceremony.
We had a small team – but a powerful one…we were ready to do this. We had enormous support from probably the best coaches in the World and the best support crew with Duncan Freshwater, Catherine Smaill and kelley Fay, not to mention friends and family cheering us on and the management team back home.
We were travelling at 115km/hour and our competition were doing really well but we just managed to hold them off to win the first ever World Championship GB Gold in any alpine skiing discipline. Unfortunately, to find that extra second, I ploughed into the 3 layers of airbags in the finish area doing about 100km/hour…Ouch! I was stuck under the bags until I was pulled out by my feet. I suffered a bit of a bash to my head and a broken ski – It was worth the Gold medal though!
The next day, the decision was made by the management for me not to race in the Super G. I was devastated but I did feel awful. The following day was a day off so I would be ready to do the Super combi (1 super g and 1 slalom). I was a lot better but not 100% I had really given myself a big shake up in that crash and had hurt my ankle as well.
Thanks to our fantastic physio, Brett and I went on to get silver in the next 3 events behind Slovakia’s Henrietta Farkasova. It was a great World Champs for Brett and Me. We learned a lot from the experience and saw how the competition is hotting up a head of the Paralympics next year. There is more work to do but we will be ready!