Ski Club Vail’s Lindsey Kildow, a five-event racer on the U.S. Ski Team, reports regularly from the tour for The Denver Post.
Innsbruck, Austria – I’m taking a little break here before going to Turin, and I’m trying not to think about the Olympics quite yet. It’s definitely going to be on my mind, but it won’t really hit me until I actually get there.
I don’t go to Turin until Thursday. We have athlete processing that day, and our first training run is Sunday. Until it’s time to go, I just want to rest and relax. The last couple of days I’ve gotten in some training, so now I’ll take two days off and totally “veg.”
At this point four years ago, I was 17 and I was racing a lot of Europa Cup races trying to qualify for the Olympic team. I wasn’t really with the team that much, and I wasn’t racing much on the World Cup.
When it was time to go to Salt Lake for the Olympics, I was really excited just to be there as a racer in the combined and the slalom. I was soaking in the excitement and the experience. I wasn’t that concerned about the race, because I was so young.
I didn’t get to see other events, because I had to do downhill training for the combined and then train for the slalom. (Kildow finished sixth in the combined, 32nd in the slalom.) After that, I had to leave right away for the world juniors championships in Europe.
The coolest thing for me was the Olympic Village – I did meet some other athletes there – and then a month later, I went to the White House with a lot of other Salt Lake Olympians and met the president. That was one of the cooler experiences, because I got to meet and hang out with someone from pretty much every sport.
This time I’m going to try to have fun, but it’s serious business. I will try to march in the opening ceremony, but I have to keep fresh and keep my mind on the right track.
I know I’ve qualified for spots in the downhill, super-G, slalom and combined. I don’t know for sure about giant slalom, but I would assume I would be racing in that as well.
