WEST Vancouver's Georgia Simmerling has decided to add a lot more traffic to her skiing career, competing in her first ever World Cup ski cross races last weekend after moving over from Canada's alpine racing team.
The 22-year-old already has an Olympic race on her resume - she finished 27th in Super G at the 2010 Games in Whistler - and was touted as one of the alpine team's up-and-comers. But now with the switch she'll be braving the madcap courses of ski cross where four racers line up together and battle over jumps and obstacles to be the first one down the hill.
The move seems to be working out quite nicely already with Simmerling scoring an 11th place finish in her first ever race Saturday in Innichen-San Candido, Italy, and following that up with a ninth place showing on the same course the following day.
In both races Simmerling showed her speed in the solo qualifying rounds, easily making the 16-woman elimination heats. When the racing got crowded, however, things got a little trickier. On Saturday Simmerling took an early fall in her heat and was not in contention. The next day was an improvement as she battled all the way down the course and just missed making the top two in her heat to advance, losing in a photo finish.
All in all, not bad for a rookie. "I think it was a pretty good way to start the season," Simmerling told the North Shore News, adding that she's learning a lot every time out. "I'm quite comfortable when it comes to qualifying. I know I can ski fast, right in there with the top ski cross racers in the world in the qualifying round. Obviously when it comes to the heats it's new to me but I think I'm learning pretty quickly, I'm jostling right there with them."
In February while she was still skiing alpine, Simmerling won her first-ever Nor-Am Cup race in Aspen, Colo. The following day, however, she crashed on the same course and was injured. While recovering from that crash she decided to change disciplines. The move from alpine to ski cross is a permanent one, said Simmerling, and now that she's had a taste of her new sport she can't wait for more.
"It's like a motorcross mixed with a roller derby," she said. "You have eight skis flailing and eight poles and four bodies all jostling together to try to get down the course as fast as they can."
Growing up with three rough and tumble older brothers - now three of her biggest fans - gave her the right mindset for ski cross racing, said Simmerling.
"They definitely beat me up growing up," she said with a laugh. "I think ski cross has my name written all over it."
The season continues Jan. 7 in St. Johann, Austria, and Simmerling said her goal in that race will be to make it past the first elimination heat.
"I think having small short-term goals is the way to go and I think I'm on the right path to, by the end of the season, definitely have some podiums," she said.
If that's where Simmerling ends up she'll be following the path of teammate and friend Kelsey Serwa, a Kelowna native who came up in the B.C. alpine program with Simmerling but switched to ski cross three years ago and is now the best in the world. Serwa finished first in both races in Italy on the weekend.
"I couldn't ask for a better teammate," said Simmerling. "I'm super stoked to be part of the ski cross team, it's a ton of fun."
