Currently: SL in Val Disere

[Muleski]

When our two graduated fro college and were finished racing......big change!!

The scary thing was that when they went to college, at two "costly" schools, racing in the NCAA, those years cost a fraction of the ski academy and PG years.

All worth it, we'd do it again in a heartbeat. Was a good choice for each of them, in many ways.

Today? I am hearing of family race budgets that are $200K, $300K and even more a year. That is nuts, and I struggle to see who it's good for.

 

[4ster]

I'm assuming Chowder is Choudunsky. He was ripping his second run through all that crap till again, he went out. Sad because it sounds like this one will really hurt his ranking & start number. The guy belongs with the best in the world. He may not be ready to podium but top 10 speed, for sure. Too bad he keeps tripping up as he may loose his chance to reach his potential.
Does anyone else think he may be over canted?

Hirscher is an animal & has the uncanny ability to will himself to win.

 

[Muleski]

I'm assuming Chowder is Choudonsky. He was ripping his second run through all that crap till again, he went out. Sad because it sounds like this one will really hurt his ranking & start number. The guy belongs with the best in the world. He may not be ready to podium but top 10 speed, for sure. Too bad he keeps tripping up as he may loose his chance to reach his potential.
Does anyone else think he may be over canted?

Hirscher is an animal & has the uncanny ability to will himself to win.
View attachment 35073

Yep. Dave Choudunsky. Daver. Chowder. Very well liked guy. Sorry to go with the nickname!

He has some real moments of brilliance. In fact, so many of these guys have absolute jets, and ski sections of courses just as well as almost anybody. I think the whole field is really impressive.

I have always been a fan of his. Particularly since his college days. We know many "kids" who were skiing with him in college, or at Dartmouth with him.

Not sure that he has top ten speed. I look at the current rankings and names, and try to think about who the other nine are.....and then the others who would be behind him. This men's SL field is loaded right now, and there are younger guys moving up. I just rattled off about 16 guys who I think are now simply faster than Dave. Dave is 33, so not young, but not ancient by any means. He's had some good results over the years, top 10's, and not that long ago. He was 4th at Val D'Isere, I think two seasons ago? He's been top 10 there at least twice.

He unfortunately does not have a training partner who can really pace him. Engel and McGinnis are close, so is Robby when he's with them. But he would probably benefit a great deal if he were chasing somebody faster. Just a guess. It works for many others.

Dunno about his boots. He at least a year ago skied in an incredibly stiff boot for a guy of his size. More so than others. Not sure who would be doing his boot work. I think his coach has a pretty good eye for that stuff. I think it would be very hard to tell on the most recent hill, easier at a place like Levi. But, as we know a lot of boot work seems to be constant with these guys....a lot with the SL guys.

I would LOVE to see Dave pop a few top 10's, and maybe a podium. Good guy. I agree that he probably could have reached higher under different circumstances. I have heard a couple of ex USST guys say as much. Some of the USST wasted a lot of energy trying to prove to themselves that as a college graduate he didn't "belong", was too old, etc. For a long time, if you were not a chosen one, pushed into the system at young ages, and kept in the pipeline, no "need to apply." I think that has changed. I hope. I watched the 5th place finisher on Sunday race in about 50 races over his years at UVM.

Hirscher has just been phenomenal, for a long time. Wow.

 

[4ster]

Good stuff for good skiing...

 

[S.H.]

I'm assuming Chowder is Choudunsky. He was ripping his second run through all that crap till again, he went out. Sad because it sounds like this one will really hurt his ranking & start number. The guy belongs with the best in the world. He may not be ready to podium but top 10 speed, for sure. Too bad he keeps tripping up as he may loose his chance to reach his potential.
Does anyone else think he may be over canted?

Hirscher is an animal & has the uncanny ability to will himself to win.
View attachment 35073

FWIW, Chodounsky is still in the top 30 on the WCSL, despite the Olympic Channel commentary. 29th. He'll need a good finish in Madonna, where he'll probably start 28, to stay in the top 30. Was 17th there last year, so will probably need something in the mid-teens to stay in the top 30. He has a mixed history on the hill - he was 9th there two years ago, but also has three DNFs.

If he falls out of the top 30, he will be starting way back, likely in the 50s or 60s.

 

[Muleski]

I have not paid enough {any} attention to Dave's exact situation re: the WCSL. Sounds pretty precarious.

Sounds like he needs to score enough points to stay ahead of a small number of guys coming at him, who are not currently in the top 30, but based on their skiing probably will be. Couple of the young Swiss, couple of the young Germans, I imagine. I haven't checked.

And the compounding piece, I guess, is that his points are probably not going to stay where they are now. Due to go up. I think his best two results in the past two years may have been at US Nationals. One would be a win, and maybe a second. I'm guessing that the next time his points are recalculated, he moves from just under 6 to something like 9?

Yeah, dropping off the WCSL top 30, and having his points increase {if that's a possibility} would drastically change his starting position. Back with Ankeny, Ginnis, Roberts, where getting a second run is a battle.

@S.H. , Thanks for pointing that out..was completely off my radar screen for sure. Dave has been pretty consistent for a number of years, and I just "think of" him being somewhere around 25.

I did not hear any of the commentary this weekend, and missed those comments.

Let's hope he has a great weekend. Fingers crossed for him. Good guy.

Going to be pretty rough if USST fans are just hoping for second runs. These guys are fast, but the field is deep, and as we saw this past weekend, the hills are tough. Start position makes a huge difference.