Solid.
That was the word Larisa Yurkiw used to describe the first weekend of the World Cup Ski season with.
Solid for her. Very solid for her teammates.
Over the course of the weekend, in a sequence of downhill-downhill-Super G, Yurkiw finished 24th, then 16th and finally 24th again in the Super G.
Those results are tremendous for the Owen Sound native, especially in light of her training results which were underwhelming from her competitive desires.
When asked what the difference was between being essentially 40th in training and then jumping into the top 25 on consecutive races in competition, Yurkiw had 3 answers.
Number 1, the competitive juices flow far faster when you put on a competitive bid compared to a training bib.
Two, she felt she was consistent, more consistent than she’s been in a year of World Cup skiing.
And finally, hearing and seeing her teammates have awesome results was highly motivating.
Today, Yurkiw will wake up in Austria after flying out of Calgary yesterday.
They’ll spend another week training and then compete this weekend at Val D’Isere in France, truly hoping for another ” solid ” weekend.
I’m Fred Wallace