A few thoughts.
Goggia seems to have “regresssed” a bit from her maturing into skiing very smart, trusting her tech and setup, and really dialing in her line and tactics {ALL of which have made her the best DH skier in the world and right there in SG} to go back to her younger “just send it” mode. When she was nowhere as good, kind of chubby and always gassed in the last quarter of any speed race. Before training with RedBull.
It’s really not smart, and perhaps on the home soil at Cortina the emotional drive to just send it was too much. So she did. I have no idea how she’s doing.
Breezy Johnson has the same problem. People think it’s so”awesome” that she “just effing SENDS IT!” She sure as hell is not being coached to JSI. Truth is she is very hard to coach. Very headstrong. Not great at listening. Maybe a bit too confident. This mentality that I’m SENDING SO HARD that I’m going to win, or podium….or end up in the heli to the hospital seems pretty foolish.
Breezy J did not need to “win” the DH training runs in Cortina. Or crush anybody else’s time. They are training runs. I have spoken to a bunch of USST coaches and I get the response that she’s tough, as in headstrong, always has been, and family is too.
The send it to the hospital with blown ligaments or worse does NOT make sense to me.
Alice R. This was just something like her 12th WC SG. They are bringing along her speed program at a very nice, well thought out deliberate pace. Smart. She is doing DH training runs, to get more miles on the long skis and to get used to the hills. At venues where the SG and DH are on the same hill, smart move. Good experience. I don’t see any WC DH starts on the horizon, but….she is all of 20.
Pretty clear that her future is going to be in GS, SG and eventually DH. Last three WC SG’s? All top 10’s.
Last two EC DH’s? Both 2nd.
She is very much the real deal. And she is really developing her strength and fitness via RedBull. Not her time yet, no rush.
Today’s SG. That number of DNF’s is pretty eyeopening. Hope the injuries are minimal. Wow.
Let’s also hope that nobody sends themselves home and out of the Olympics by “Sending it” so hard in Garmisch. You need to pay real attention to things like flat light and the surface to make sure that you’re on your line and not just bounced out. These runs where Goggia is suddenly doing a split with skis veering wide are pretty terrifying, IMO.
olympics.nbcsports.com
