Sunday, March 23, 2008

Knee and Sports Awards.

I heard back from the doctor from the Olympic medical institute and he told me he had got the results back from the scan I had on Monday. Good news, there's no major damage to my knee so it should be ok in about a week.
Thursday night was the Isle Of Man Sports Awards. I probably wouldn't have come back home from Switzerland for it except my newest sponsor Sure mobile bought me a ticket. Its a good job too because I won a whole load of trophies!I was presented with:-

British Olympic Association Snowsport Athlete of the Year 2007.

It was also announced that my picture is going to be displayed in the Isle Of Man Sports Hall Of Fame. To top it off I won:-

Sportswoman Of The Year.

I had so many trophys I had to get help to carrying them! I am only home for another five days so I am having a party tonight to make the most of it. Happy Easter!

Friday, March 14, 2008

World cup finals


I finally got to Italy for the world cup finals at 3 in the morning on the first day of training.

Unfortunately, my knee wasn’t any better when I got up the next morning so I was unable to ride in the competition.

I went up to watch the comp yesterday and really really wanted to be in it, not sitting watching the others! What made it worse was that there was only 23 girls (instead of the usual 40 odd) and none of the Americans were there. Which made it a really easy competition compaired to the other world cups this season.

Just to top it off, all that had to happen for me to stay in 6th in the world cup rankings was for Sandra Frie to come anywhere other than first, and she came first!

So I am now ranked 7th in the world at the end of the world cup series. Still pretty good compared to my 12th last year.

Just after the finals yesterday I went over to Bormio where the alpine ski world cup finals are. I went because channel 4 where there and wanted to do and interview with me. It went well and they said it would be shown on the 30th of March on Channel 4.

I am going to the Olympic medical institute on Monday morning to have a scan on my knee to find out what exactly is wrong with it.

Wish me luck!

Zoe

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Trapped in Montreal!


This is the result of the French girls snowboard hitting my knee with great force! We were meant to be flying out of Montreal (Canada) last night but there was a massive snow storm and the airport had to close. So we found a hotel for the night and contacted the airline but they can’t get us on another flight until tomorrow which means I will miss the first day of training at the world cup in Italy.

To make things worse my knee is still very swollen and I can’t bend it more than 90 degrees so unless it gets better quick I am not even going to be able to ride when we finally get there.

I am lying in bed with my leg in the air and ice on my knee trying to get the swelling down and hoping it will be ok for Italy.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Canada


The most recent world cup I competed in was in Stoneham, Canada.

I was rushed before my first qualification run because they were sending the riders down the course a lot faster than usual! Luckily, I still had an ok run and got into 10th place. That was fortunate because in my next run I fell on the first feature! I slipped down to 11th after everyone did their second run but I was still in the top 16.

They were running the whole competition in one day so we went and got some lunch first then back up to the top for the heats.

In my heat we pulled out of the start gate and I was slightly behind but I caught up over the first and second feature and was in 2nd. I stayed in that position all the way until the final turn when I was half way through the girl behind me came into the turn at a really odd angle trying to get in front of me. She didn’t manage it, instead she just ploughed into me and took us both out of the race!

At least it wasn’t the same Austrian who crashed into me in Leysin, this one was French.

The worst part is when she went into me she hit my knee full speed with her board. It’s pretty swollen now and we are hoping it’s just bruised and nothing more serious. Whatever is wrong with it it’s going to have to recover fast because I have the world cup finals in Italy in 3 days.

I finished 12th here so my world ranking is now 6th.

I will write more updates soon.

Zoe

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Lake Placid, USA


I have just done my first world cup competition since finishing 2nd in Japan.

I qualified well in 9th place.

In my first heat I got a good start and was in 2nd into the first turn. All the way down I kept catching up the girl in front but there was no point in trying to pass because I only needed to be in the top 2 to get through to the next round, so I took it easy and made it down fine.

My next heat didn’t have as good a start, I was fighting to get into the top two when I fell on the entry to one of the turns. This put me into the small final.

I touched boards with one of the girls next to me over the first jump and we both lost speed so the other 2 got well in front and it was a battle between 3rd and 4th in that heat for me. We fought all the way down, I got in front then she passed again then I caught her up again then she got in front, it must have happened 5 times. Then over the last kicker I finally got well in front of her and passed over the finish line in 3rd giving me an overall finish place of 7th.

Then I had to go and get drug tested. They pick random people when they do drug testing at competitions and here they had decided to test whoever came 7th and 8th. It’s always a little worrying and weird to get tested but I am very careful about what I let into my body so I am sure the will be fine.

Next comp is in Stoneham in Canada then it’s the world cup finals in Italy.

P.S. the Ben and Jerry shop is now open again!