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Val d’Isere
Locally trained alpine ski racer David Chodounsky is keeping the dream alive. Chodounsky rallied to a 15th-place finish at the second stop of the World Cup slalom season in Val d’Isere on December 8.
If there’s one word that describes Chodounsky, it’s resilient. He has been on the alpine ski racing scene since early childhood, getting his start at Buck Hill in Minnesota before moving to Crested Butte.
He had a very successful junior racing career skiing for the Crested Butte Ski Club and the Crested Butte Academy, earning a full ride to ski for Dartmouth College.
After winning the national title in slalom and graduating from college, Chodounsky returned to his dream of skiing for the U.S. Ski Team.
He broke onto the World Cup scene in 2010 and is currently a member of the U.S. Ski Team’s B program. Last year he decided to get some much needed work done and underwent “the knife” on his knee. After a lengthy rehabilitation period, Chodounsky suffered another temporary setback last summer, breaking his collarbone.
Rather than hang up the skis for good, Chodounsky jumped back into the fray and is back to 100 percent for the 2013 racing season.
He opened the season with a night race in Levi, Finland on November 11 and after a great first run, placing 13th, he straddled a gate on his final run, falling short of posting a result.
“I was on pace for a top 10, maybe even top 5, and hooked a gate over the roll,” explains Chodounsky. “It was a bummer, but that was sweet to see my pace was there and that I was skiing well.”
Chodounsky returned to form a month later at a World Cup slalom race in Val d’Isere, with the pressure on for a positive result.
“Val d’Isere was pretty big,” says Chodounsky. “I missed out on a good amount of World Cup points in Levi so I just need to keep the hammer down and keep scoring to get myself into the top 30 ranking in the world—then my start position will be better.”
Chodounsky flirted with the cutoff, posting a 30th-place finish on his first run to be the last guy into the finals.
Fortunately, the finals are run in reverse order so Chodounsky was first one down the course.
Chodounsky tipped in and stomped his second run, posting the third fastest time of the finals to move up into 15th place overall, .2 seconds out of a top 10 finish.
“It was a lot nicer and smooth so I could take a more direct line and lay down a fast run,” says Chodounsky.
He remains in Europe for some Europa Cup races this week and had his next World Cup slalom race in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy on Tuesday, December 18.
