Chodounsky takes second at National Championships

Closes out first season on U.S. Ski Team

 Crested Butte’s own David Chodounsky got a taste of the big time this season racing on the U.S. alpine ski team’s “B” team.
Chodounsky was named to the squad in May 2009 and jumped into the fray of the big time, the World Cup.
As the team prepared for the 2010 Olympics, there was one spot left on the slalom team.
Bode Miller, Ted Ligety and Jimmy Cochran sewed up the first three spots. Ironically, Chodounsky beat Cochran last year at the U.S. Alpine National Championships in Alaska.
Members of the B team then had a chance to battle it out for the fourth and final spot.
That meant it was time for Chodounsky to step into the realm of World Cup racing.
Chodounsky got his first World Cup start at Alta Badia, Italy.
“I thought I was going to be pretty nervous but I was pretty fired up and ready to go,” says Chodounsky. “The course inspection was different though. There’s helicopters flying around and you’re looking around in awe but you’ve got to focus on the race.”
Chodounsky got another dose of World Cup reality at a night race in Zagreb, Croatia.
“I broke over this roll onto a steeper pitch and I could totally hear the crowd, air horns and cow bells ringing,” says Chodounsky.
Unfortunately, it was during the push for the Olympic team that Chodounsky suffered a knee injury.
“It was bad timing but I tried to push through it,” says Chodounsky. “It didn’t quite work. I was actually really close. I was holding my own.”
Chodounsky had four World Cup starts this year and after his knee was back to 100 percent he returned to the racing circuit.
He came back to the states in February for several FIS (Federation Internationale de Ski) and Nor-Am events and while slalom is his specialty, he revisited the Super G discipline at a Nor-Am in Aspen, a race he hadn’t competed in for at least five years.
“I kind of did it for fun,” says Chodounsky. “I had Super G skis so I thought I’d give it a go.”
That led to his entering the Super Combined, an event that takes the total time from a Super G race and a slalom race.
After finishing 18th in the Super G, Chodounsky moved up into fourth overall in the Super Combined in Aspen.
After a series of races in Vermont and New Hampshire, Chodounsky returned to the U.S. Alpine National Championships in Lake Placid, New York looking to defend his 2009 slalom title.
Conditions were brutal at Lake Placid as warm temperatures wreaked havoc on the snow.
Chodounsky opened the national championships with an 11th-place finish in the Super G and then set his sights on the slalom.
He ran third in his first race and finished in fourth place with a second run to go.
“I had one little mistake but a pretty solid run,” says Chodounsky. “Fourth is a really good position coming into the second run.”
Race regulations determine though that skiers go in reverse order of their finish so Chodounsky ran 27th out of 30 on his second run dropping into a course that was decimated.
“The course was just completely broken down,” says Chodounsky. “It was a rodeo ride for sure. You’re just kind of hanging on.”
Chodounsky moved up two spots on his second run to finish the day in second place, five spots ahead of U.S. Olympian Ted Ligety.
“I didn’t have a lot of strong results this year but I’m pretty happy with second place,” says Chodounsky.
Chodounsky finished the U.S. Nationals with a silver in the Super Combined as well.
Chodounsky will close the 2009-2010 season with four more races in Vermont and hopes to lower his FIS points ranking even further and get called back onto the U.S. Ski Team for next year and return to the World Cup.
“Hopefully the team takes me back for next year,” says Chodounsky. “The World Cup scene is so cool. Experience is huge. The first year is definitely not easy. A lot of it right now is mental. To have the confidence to go 100 percent all the way down the course.”
The 2010-2011 U.S ski team should be announced some time in May.