In at the deep end - European champs 2012 (Skiing)

Sunday 12 February 2012 08:54AM

Preparing for last week’s European champs I was full of optimism about how I might do – I’d just completed the longest block of training without getting ill that I’d ever managed (this has historically been a big problem for me), and the week before the championships started had felt very fit at the Rainkopfraid, in the Vosges, where I “raced” the course but without a number as I’d been unable to find a team mate.

So when the first race went so badly I was a bit disappointed but hoped things would get better from there. They did, but not by much. In the team race I felt I hadn’t really been racing, just surviving and trying not to slow Ben down too much. In the individual race I felt I was at least racing, but far from feeling great. My final race, the vertical (uphill only) race was not much better.

Something I hadn’t factored in was the difference that racing at altitude would make – the high point on the Rainkopfraid had been 1300m, whereas the first race of the European championships started 500m higher than that at 1800m, and had a high point 1500m higher at 2750m. These altitudes may sound modest to mountaineers, but anything over 1500m has a marked effect on aerobic performance. Looking back at my racing history, both on skis and on foot, and also looking at my mountaineering, I realise that I’ve always been slow to acclimatise, and poor at performing until acclimatised. The only alpine races I’ve ever felt I performed well at have been after a long period spent in the Alps, training and racing at altitude. I remember on one expedition to Kyrgyzstan driving straight to basecamp at 4000m and having to spend the next 3 days in bed while my expedition-mates ferried heavy loads to a col 700m higher than where I was struggling just to perform simple tasks like cooking and reading a book.

While this is a very inexact science, there being lots of other things that affect your performance in a race (whether the course suits you, whether everything goes right with your equipment, etc), the difference this seems to have made to my performances is quite striking. At last year’s world championships, where I felt I raced as well as I ever have on skis, I was 24% behind the winner (on time) in the individual race, and 23% in the vertical race; this year I was 38% behind in the individual race, and 35% in the vertical!

After such a severe butt-kicking it’s easy to be despondent, but I’m trying to see it as a motivator rather than a downer – I know I’m as fit as I’ve ever been, I just need to sort the altitude factor out and I’ll be back. This should become easier with each race as the season goes on.

The other Brits at the Euros fared better than me, Carron was strong in the individual race, while Ben had some fairly catastrophic problems with his skins not staying stuck to his skis. Ben redressed the balance to do very well in the vertical race – a tough 1000m climb on a very hot, sunny piste!

The guys at the front of the race were as impressive as ever – William Bon Mardion of France came from a fair way behind at the top of the last climb to catch Kilian Jornet on the 1500m last descent, reversing the result from last year’s world championships and taking the European title. In the vertical race Kilian was a minute clear of his closest rival (Frenchman Yanick Buffet), taking just 38 minutes for 1000m of ascent!

Some good photos and videos, and results, although they haven’t got the results of the individual race up.