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Jono's knee holding up
Jan 30, 2010 / 01:46:55 PM
Well, January has been a slow month for me unfortunately. After my injections early in Jan things were looking a little better however it was not the saving grace I was looking for.
During the past two weeks I have really just tried to get as much time on snow with as much quality training as possible without flaring up my knee. This has consisted of generally three days a week training Super G and the rest of the time concentrating on my fitness.
I did ski two Super G races last week in Obersaxen, Switzerland. I skied well in both races but made mistakes on the flat section of the course and lost a lot of speed and time. I finished around one second out in both races and my knee actually held up quite well. It was sore but bearable.
From there Craig, Simon and I took a couple of days off in Lake Como to hit the gym and do a little relaxing. After Como we drove to Les Orres, France for the most recent Downhill Europa Cup race. This was my fourth run of downhill since my crash and surgery in March and my first since November. In inspection I was a little nervous as this course was quite tough but as the start drew closer my nerves dissipated and I was feeling good. In the run I skied well but made a few mistakes leaving me in around 35th place by the end. My knee felt quite ok during the run however two hours post skiing I was in quite a lot of pain walking down stairs and spinning on the bike.
On the second training run I went up to see if my knee could handle it and after one warm up run I knew there was no chance. I probably could have skied down however I knew that I would be in even more trouble for the following weeks if I did. So it was straight back to Innsbruck to Doctor Fink the following morning and more Visco Supplementation injections.
I will be taking the next week off before skiing again at our pre-Olympic training camp in Nakiska, Canada. There I hope to get two to three days of quality training before heading to Whistler on the 7th to start the Downhill training on the 10th.
I have been confirmed to the Australian Olympic team for Downhill, Super G and Super Combined however just missing the criteria of top 120 in GS by just 4 spots. This is such a small margin of about 0.04% of the total number of men's alpine athletes. It is unfortunate that I won't be able to ski all five disciplines however I am very happy and honored to be a part of the Vancouver Olympic team for my second Olympics.
On another note our training partners, the British ski team, have had some very serious financial issues over the past couple of weeks. Basically the governing federation "Snowsport GB" is in financial ruin and on the brink of bankruptcy. The ski team has been left with none of the staff having been paid since the 21st of December 09 nor had any of their expenses been paid as well as being given their notice of termination for the 14th of March. This has in turn led to the coaches deciding to suspend all Alpine programs, only providing training at the coaches local ski hill so that they do not incur any expenses. This has obviously been a difficult time for both myself and Craig as well as the British athletes. "Snowsport GB" is currently working on a solution however the mood in the camp is very somber. The only saving grace is that the British Olympic Association will be paying for the coaches to attend the training camp in Nakiska as well as the Games. So although this situation is not optimal Craig and I will have coaching staff at the Games which is most important.
I'll keep you all up to date from Canada.
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