After my performance at the World University Games in January, I gathered enough points to advance into the next level of international competition. This was one of my big season goals. In a few weeks I will compete at my first Europa Cup Premium in Laax, Switzerland. This is a really exciting opportunity for me to compete alongside a worldwide selection of the top up-and-coming athletes as well as a handful of World Cup professionals who also participate in Europa Cups. With the level of competition guaranteed to be extremely high, I will need to bring my A game!
Throughout February I’ve been keeping on top of my studies, strength & conditioning and training. As part of the University of Manchester Sports Scholarship program I have had access to a nutritionist. Speaking to her about optimising my nutritional intake and getting all the right things my body needs to perform at its top level has been super helpful. It means I can build more muscle mass in the gym so I can avoid getting hurt when my double cork 1260s go wrong flying off a 60ft kicker!
I’ve also started getting involved with the university ski club. It’s been great to meet more people from Manchester who are equally as passionate about skiing. We have weekly training sessions down at Stoke Ski Club. It’s another ‘hidden gem’ dryslope with a great jump, rails, quarter pipe and even a designated slalom race section. With the ski club, I got to go down to Gloucester ski slope for the Ajam festival. It is a huge event that combines a freestyle competition, slalom race and great music from DJ performances in the evening. With over a thousand spectators and competitors it is one of the biggest grassroots events in the UK! I managed to come 2nd overall in freestyle, I was hoping to win it but with only three runs in the final I unfortunately crashed my first two runs and had a hand drag on my last run. Regardless, the rest of the evening of ‘Apres Skiing’ (or as close to we can get in the UK) was so much fun. With great music, people and atmosphere it is one already on my calendar for 2024!
