AST Athlete Journal: Dan Molesky

Hello ski racing fans!

I’m so excited to get everyone caught up to speed on the really busy month!  We had originally planned to be heading across the pond to Italy for most of January, but after taking a closer look at other opportunities, it was decided that Coach Peter, Logan and I would, instead, be heading down to the U.S. for some racing in Colorado and Wyoming. I was really happy to be going down and extremely excited to get back to racing after a long and productive training block at home, including some very fun days training with my home club, Banff Alpine!

We started off our project with racing in Vail and training in Loveland. It was great to be skiing on some incredible snow that was confidence inspiring and very fun to race on. From there Logan and I were off to Aspen and Eldora for some NCAA racing. These races were definitely a step up in level of competition and it was fun to race with guys who were a lot more experienced than us. Unfortunately, I was unable to successfully battle the tougher warm weather conditions we had and I couldn’t manage to show my best skiing on those days.   While we were racing in parallel with many of our women’s team athletes, with COVID protocols and different race days, this really became a month-long expedition of Peter, Logan and me through “Cowboy Country.” It was nice to see a number of our teammates achieve some great performances in their racing.  Another massive congratulations is also in order for everyone’s new favourite world cup skier, Cassidy Gray, whose skiing in her debut at Kranjska Gora was a moment of inspiration and extreme pride for the entire team!

From there we were off to Wyoming for more racing in Jackson Hole.  Once again, we were blessed by really great racing conditions and I was happy to be back racing in a place that was familiar to me from previous seasons (and a personal favourite).  I was also pretty happy with my racing as I was able to get my first podium of the season with a third place in the Slalom and I also achieved a top 10 in the GS despite some first run mistakes.  From Wyoming, we travelled back to Colorado more GS racing in Copper Mountain.  After all the work training, things started clicking and I felt more confident in my skiing and was happy with my performance in Copper against a field that included some pretty strong skiers.

Unfortunately, what had been a pretty successful month of skiing up until that point took a rough turn. On our last day of training (and a day before we were to fly home in anticipation of new travel restrictions), I broke my leg training slalom in Copper and underwent surgery that afternoon to repair it.  I am doing much better now thanks to the amazing help from a number of people. 

In particular I would especially like to thank the great team at St. Anthony’s hospital in Frisco for the incredible care I received during my stay.  The fantastic staff at Alberta Alpine for taking care of the logistics of getting me home and, of course, my amazing teammates for the warm wishes and support that got me through a couple fairly uncomfortable days in a hospital.  Most of all, I have to thank Peter and Logan for their hard work getting me and all my equipment home as quickly and easily as possible. 

Although I feel incredibly blessed for the opportunity to race in the United States, I have to say I have missed seeing the smiling faces of volunteers, parents and coaches who make up this wonderful community at our own local races.  I’m looking forward to working hard on the recovery and seeing everyone back on the slopes soon!

One last big thank you to our sponsors Sporting Life and Sync for the amazing support they have given us this season!

;)-Dan