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Jessica's Kayak Slalom Photo Album |
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JUNIOR SLALOM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP July 4-9, 2006 Solkan, Slovenia
“Proud to represent USA.”
After I spent two weeks in Durango, CO, filming the Abercrombie shoot and racing at the FIBARK Race in Salida, I went home sweet home for one night to pack. Three weeks in Europe, I was psyched! The team and I flew to Vienna, Austria, then drove to Bratislava, Slovakia with Martin, our coach. Ashley, Kate and I had all ordered new Vajda boats and were able to see them when we arrived. I absolutely love my new 350 Sting, it paddles like a dream! We stayed at Hotel Nivi the week were in Bratislava. Martin was our main transportation but he went back to his house after workouts so we had to improvise. We would hop on a tram whenever we wanted to go to town. Bratislava is a pretty fun little town. Every evening in the main square, some sort of performance was happening. We constantly used the opportunity to practice the little Slovakian language that we knew such as “daquien” which means “thank you”, “zala”, which means “water”. Speaking of water, the Bratislava course was pretty fun! It had a reputation for being a “Monster of a Course” but when we got there, only the right side was running. It was boily, shallow and fun but definitely not like the left channel. It did, however, give me an idea of what real European courses are like.
After staying in Bratislava for one week, we drove to Solkan, Slovenia, the venue of the Junior Worlds Race. We did do a little sightseeing while we were there. One day, we went to Venice, which was about an hour from Solkan. “Venizia” was incredibly beautiful and overwhelming! Of course, me, being the tourist that I am, I took about a couple thousand pictures. Now the team still calls me “the tourist”.
There were so many paddlers from all over the world to meet, so little time. I made a personal goal for myself everyday to meet at least ten new people. I introduced myself to everyone that came along when I was at the river or when I was at Hotel Sabotine. There were lots of teams staying in our hotel since it was a close walk to the river. The Solkan course was a natural river and pretty straight forward. Not too technical, but still good. Each country had time slots for when they’re allowed on the water since there were so many people. We had about two hours everyday to paddle on the course. Our schedule usually consists of short courses, halves or fulls in the morning then a technique session in the afternoon.
There were three days of racing. July 8th was qualifiers for K-1 Women and Canoe. July 9th was qualifiers for C-2’s and K-1 Men. July 10th was semi-final and final round. On the day of qualifiers, I felt that I was completely prepared. I had the course in my mind, the moves all set and ready to race. On my first run, however, I came out of the start gate too anxious and I was paddling much too fast. Gate number two was an up deep in the eddy and I just made the mistake of paddling in too high. I ended up 50’ing the gate but continued on with my run. When I looked at the results, to my surprise, despite having lost some of my concentration, I had a relatively fast run compared to the other athletes. On my second run, I just wanted to have a clean, solid run and that, I did! It wasn’t only solid, it was pretty fast! My time was 104 and the fastest women time for the day was 100 so even if I didn’t do as well as I would have liked, it gave me the opportunity to see how I ranked internationally. Most importantly, the experience was definitely worth it. I’m looking forward to next year if I make the team once again.
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Racing on the course in Slovenia during Junior Worlds. (Photo by Paris Robinson). |
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