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Escarpment Magazine Winter 2014
DJ Ivanix, a well-known European DJ, started
spinning at around 9am. The party had
started, and the crowd steadily grew until race
time. Both Canadians were in the preliminary
round, duking it out with over two dozen rac-
ers for a top five position, in order to make it
into the round of 15. I had a moment of lucidity
when I saw David Donaldson in the start
house. I coached David for three years when
he was just a little pre-Nancy Greene racer at
Georgian Peaks. I couldn’t believe
that stubborn little half-pint (then) was
now ski racing at the highest level,
against the top 30 GS racers in the
world. I felt like a proud mother.
But David was at a disadvantage ski-
ing on the current, longer radius skis
and unfortunately did not advance
past the preliminary round. He ex-
plained, “My skis are fast but they’re
just too long for a sprint GS like this.
Next year I’ll be more prepared with
a shorter radius ski.”
Phil Brown nabbed the fifth and final
spot, advancing from the preliminary
round to qualify for the Round of 15
against the showcase athletes. Although he
did not qualify to the Round of 10, he was still
pleased with the experience and picked up
some useful strategies for next year. “It’s a
sprint, so tactics don’t necessarily come into
play,” explained Brown. “I think you just have
to push and find some speed somewhere on
the soft snow, and then get a big reach for the
line hopefully to make up a few hundredths be-
cause it’s really tight in there.”
Bode Miller, always a crowd favorite, posted
the fastest time in the Round of 15 but made a
crucial error in the second last round and skied
off course. “Maybe I was pushing too hard, I
think,” noted Miller. “The first run down I felt
like I had a lot more speed in me, and I was
fast but I thought I had more speed. I thought I
was through all the real danger, so I maybe
got a little bit lazy and made one mistake and
that’s all it takes.”
To the delight of the fans
who lined the course,
Miller salvaged the spec-
tacle of his run by throw-
ing a 360 over the Audi
pro jump. One of the lat-
est YouTube videos to go
viral—I saw this video on
at least 14 facebook
posts within 72 hours of
the event.
*
FEATURE
|
alpine rockfest
Bode Miller treats the crowd with a sensational 360 over the Audi pro jump
