ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — Getting here from Aspen last week was more stressful than getting ready for a big race. The trip included tight flight connections, lost luggage and a frightening health crisis involving one of my teammates.
After the slalom in Aspen on Dec. 9, we pretty much sprinted back to the hotel, packed up our stuff and sped to the Aspen airport. We barely made it on our flight to Denver, but then the flight was delayed. We could see that most of our bags weren’t making it on the plane.
We got into Denver late, leaving us 15 minutes to get from Concourse B to Concourse A to make the direct flight to Frankfurt, Germany, that night. The Austrians, some Germans, Anja Paerson from Sweden, my teammates and I — everyone was sprinting to the gate. I was lugging like 50 pounds of stuff, including two pairs of racing boots and my laptop. We got on the plane and everyone was sweating.
We did not want to miss that flight, because if you do, you have to spend a night in Denver and you’re going to get to Europe a day later. Getting to Europe a day late sets you back in adjusting to the eight-hour time difference. Everyone was sprinting their hearts out to make sure we got on that plane. It was like the World Cup competing for spots on that plane.
Things got even more stressful about two hours into the flight when Kaylin Richardson had a bad reaction to a sleeping pill the Austrian team gave her. She fainted and they had to call for a doctor. They couldn’t find a pulse. It was looking really bad — they almost had to put in a breathing tube — but then she woke up and everything was OK.
Everyone was really freaking out about it, because the pill was something all the Austrians take, so they went to check on all the Austrian girls to make sure they were OK. Everyone else was fine. We were just lucky Kaylin wound up being OK.
We made our connection in Frankfurt for a flight to Munich, but naturally our bags didn’t make it. We finally got them two days later.
Everything worked out in the end, though, and I finished second in Saturday’s downhill to regain the World Cup lead. It’s always good to be on the podium, but especially after being fourth in that fluky race at Aspen.
