Questions: 

• What’s running through your mind as you count down to the Games — excitement, nerves, pride, fear?

I think there’s a lot of nerves and anticipation because you still don’t know if you’ve made the games yet until a week or two before they start. This would be my first Olympics, and if I’m able to qualify for the Games it would be the fulfillment of a childhood dream. It would just be almost a relief and sort of a confirmation that all the sacrifices you and your family made to get to this point were worth it. Which is funny because we compete at races with the same level as the Olympics almost every weekend, but it’s still something special, especially as an American. 

• What does success really look like for you in Cortina — beyond medals?

Success would be to just ski to my potential, and be able to showcase the hard work that I and everyone around me has put in for so many years now. The result will be what it will be, but as long as I can go out and not be afraid to take risks and ski with my heart on my sleeve, there’s nothing more to ask for. 

• When you close your eyes and imagine walking into the start gate, what do you feel?

I imagine it to feel something different and monumental to be in an Olympic start gate, but to be honest I will do everything in my power to make it feel like just another race. Everything around has a heightened level of anticipation, but at the end of the day ski racing is ski racing no matter the venue and you want to be able to perform at your best. I think it’s quite rare to magically pull something out on race day that you have never been capable of before, so it more realistically comes down to trusting yourself and the work you’ve put in to ski at your highest level. Nothing more, nothing less. As boring as that is. 

• How do you want people to remember your run, or your approach, once it’s over?

I want people to remember the team that got me to where I am today and to remember that I’m the product of hard work and persistence. Knowing that after enough years in the darkness just quietly working as hard as you can, you’ll get your opportunity to showcase all that you’ve put into this.  And hopefully I can be a good example of that once these Games arrive. 

• What have you learned about yourself through this process that has nothing to do with skiing?

I’ve gotten to know myself better than I could have imagined over this process. Not just preparing for the Games, but everything over the last 15 years of my career. Especially during the hard times and the struggles, that’s where you really find what motivates you and if you have the discipline to keep pushing or not. Being an athlete starts out obviously just fun and games, but you quickly realize how much you have to sacrifice to have a chance of being the best at something. And then you have to decide if the personal growth and journey this puts you on is worth all those sacrifices. Personally, no matter what the sport or environment is, to just have a chance to try to be the best in the world at something is incredibly special. To take that leap of faith, knowing that it’s almost guaranteed to fail, is a magical thing because it demands of you a level of courage and humility that it quite difficult to find in other avenues of life. So Games or not, successes or not, I wouldn’t trade the lessons I’ve learned through this process for anything. 

This is the end of this question series, but if you’re still reading I appreciate you following along! Fun to look back and see how I was approaching all of this when I wrote everything last fall and was fighting the nervousness surrounding Olympic qualification through the first part of the season. I’m headed off to school now to do my 5th of 12 eventual terms to earn my degree, so lots of (different) work to look forward to. Cheers