InTheSnow’s Ben Clatworthy spent 10 minutes with Ed Drake, Britain’s former number one Alpine ski racer and Olympian, to talk about his decision to move to ski cross, as well as Sochi 2014.
- Ed, it’s been 2 years since you last raced Alpine, and now you’ve made the leap to ski cross, what is the thinking behind the change – was it a decision linked to your ankle operation?
ED> No, it wasn’t a direct result of my ankle, but as a result of the operation I did miss a lot of pre-season training in terms of Alpine racing. I was ready for something different and exciting. I wanted a fresh take on skiing, and I felt it was time to move away from the Alpine side of racing. Moving to ski cross restored the hunger that I had when I first started doing Alpine. It has been really nice and exciting to be in a new environment and a new discipline.
- Presumably you had been planning the switch for a long time? Was it always what you intended to do?
ED> The move to ski cross had been going through my head since the end of last winter, especially as I felt I was starting to fall out of love with Alpine. The continuous budget cuts and lack of funding didn’t help the situation, which was becoming more-and more draining and ended up with me becoming less and less motivated. So I thought it through over the summer, but with new sponsors I felt I should give Alpine another shot, but it just wasn’t right and I decided that ski cross was definitely the way forward. I’d spoken to lots of racers and coaches already involved in ski cross, and they agreed that thanks to my background and skills set that the discipline would suit me. My sponsors all agreed and supported my move as well, especially my main sponsor, The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead, who is equally as excited about my change of direction. I’d been doing downhill, which has jumps, and the head-to-head aspect of the sport excited me, so it seemed like a natural progression given my skills base. There’s also the fact it looks like a great sport.
- How have you found the transition to the new discipline? You’re results indicate it’s not as easy as Alpine racers might imagine?
ED> I wouldn’t say I find it easy at all. I didn’t understand it until I gave it a go. Skiing downhill or super-G I didn’t really have to concentrate that much on turning – it becomes natural after so many years – it was more about the line and terrain, and, in fact, a lot of my Alpine skiing when I was racing was autonomous. That’s all different with ski cross. I need to think of lots of things at the same time, which is when mistakes start to creep in. Even though it is skiing, it’s very different to what I was doing. The jumps, or features, are vastly different to Alpine racing. There are corners and high jumps, whereas downhill is fast, long jumps.
- What’s on your agenda for the rest of the season?
ED> I crashed in Grasgehren, Germany, at the beginning of February and needed an operation on my thumb, so I have been recuperating at home for a few weeks, but I will be heading back out to Alps on shortly. I’m competing in some International Ski Federation races in Germany next week, and doing some training, before heading to Scandinavia for the World Championships. Once I’ve finished there I have a few more World Cup races planned, but really that’s as far as I’ve got when it comes to planning.
- Sochi is less than a year away; do you think you’ll be up to Olympic standard by then?
ED> Yes I would love to go to Sochi, but I’m not doing ski cross just to go to the Games. I’m doing it because I want to be good at it. I’ve already been to the Games once, so have had the experience, therefore, I only want to go again if I know I’m going to be good, and vying for the top spots. For me in ski cross it’s about being competitive at the ”sharp-end”, and along with that will mean qualification for Sochi. But we shall see.
- If I can take you back to 2010, when you represented the country at the Vancouver Games, what was your defining moment of competing at the Games?
ED> Going to the Winter Olympics was unbelievable – a real privilege. I remember standing in the downhill gate and having to take some extra breaths, remembering what a long road it was to get there, and the sacrifices my parents and I had had to make. It was an amazing experience.
