sandrazürcher

i arrived a few days before the world champs to see what the terrain would be like. i was unable to go to the ukraine before the world champs, the costs of traveling there were just too much, especially if i wanted to take part in all of the world cup races. as always, it was a great training camp with the us team, since i see most of my teammates only once a year, it is always nice to catch up with them.



sprint qualification race
my first race was the sprint qualification race. this was a race where i wasn't sure how i could do. i have always been pretty good at sprints, but never really awesome. i didn't think i was particularly fast enough to make the final. i went into the race without big expectations and my main goal was to come through the race without any big technical mistakes. this is exactly what happened. i was very happy to run a good race at woc, which has always been a challenge for me in the past. my time held up until the end and i made it into the final!! this was such an exciting moment for me. i was so happy, i have never made a woc a-final. my teammates celebrated enthusiastically and marc even shed tears of joy. it was truly a moment of relief for me. i have been so close so many times, but i have also under performed many time as well. finally i made it!




long qualification race
making the a-final in the sprint made this race much more challenging. before woc i had felt that making the final in the sprint was unrealistic and in the long would be more realistic. so naturally i put a little pressure on myself for this long quali. i had a pretty bad run. already at the 2nd control i made a 3 minute mistake. i never really found a flow during the race and always felt like i wasn't moving forward. at the 2nd last control i made another (stupid) mistake, losing again 1.5 minutes. i came into the finish thinking i was way behind and had no chance of making the final. in the end effect i ended up 16th, only 7 seconds from the final. Ugg! so close! of course the positive thing about this race is that if had a normal run, i would have made it, and i think next year it's possible to make it.




relay

last year in denmark the us girls were 17th. it was the best we have done in ages and it was a lot of fun. this year we wanted to run in the top 15. Samantha Saeger ran the first leg again like last year, and like last year she ran great! she handed off to me in 15th position. i had a good run, one of those runs where you know that the control will be right where you expect it to be. i felt one step ahead, and could push physically to my limit. this was a nice change from the long qualifier and helped me regain a little confidence. i changed over to our last leg runner also in 15th place, at this point we were only 3 minutes from 10th place! i think we can make a Top 10 someday. unfortunately our last runner did not have a good race and made one big mistake. we dropped down to 19th place. oh well.


sprint final

i was really nervous for my first woc final. especially in the sprint, i felt like everyone can watch me and i am a runner that likes to be alone in the woods. i was able to prepare myself well mentally for the race, and also ran a race that i am very happy with. of course there are controls were i lost 10 seconds or so, and i took one route choice that wasn't the fastest way. the field was really strong and i couldn't beat very many girls. i am satisfied with my 42nd place, but hope to do better in the future.

all in all i am very happy with this years woc. i can see that i am on my way to more consistent results and a higher level. it was a motivating experience and i am looking forward to working hard to get further.