AST Athlete Journal: Jess McLellan
Hi everyone! My name is Jess McLellan, and this is my first athlete journal as a member of the Alberta Ski Team!
Growing up as a dual citizen in Truckee, California meant taking a slightly different path than my teammates. With the support of my home club, Banff Alpine Racers, I have represented Canada since my first year of FIS. After graduating from Sugar Bowl Academy in 2024, I moved to Canmore, Alberta on my own to continue competing with BAR. I’m excited to be starting my first season with AST!
Training with the team has been amazing so far, and the women’s team is strong and competitive. We’re constantly pushing each other and lifting each other up, which has been really great to be a part of. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of momentum we can build together and carry through the start of the season!
After a successful summer of off-snow training, we were ready to get into our first on-snow training block. Due to challenging snow conditions in Europe, there was a lot of uncertainty around what would happen next. We all kept our heads down and maintained a positive attitude, allowing us to adapt and move forward with whatever our coaches made happen for us. Indoor training in the Netherlands was not easy. It was repetitive. The same mellow, icy pitch 20 times a day, for 10 days. Tuning 2-3 pairs of skis twice each day. Mentally, this pushed us to our limits but it was a huge opportunity to dial in our slalom skiing, and we capitalized on it. Hearing that the coaches managed to get us lane space in Stelvio for the final week was one of the highlights of the first camp. We were so grateful to finally have some time on our GS skis. The snow conditions there ended up being amazing, and to make it even better, the most beautiful sunrises.
Our previous indoor training in the Netherlands set us up for an extremely productive next block of indoor training in Wittenberg, Germany which we’ve just concluded. The terrain there is much different. There’s more variety with two flat sections, a sharp break over, and a steeper pitch requiring more discipline. I had so much fun getting to up the intensity in my slalom skiing. We’re now just arriving in Saas-Fee where we’ll see a more wintery side of our favourite summer glacier. I’m really looking forward to a longer GS block so that I can continue building more confidence in my GS skiing as we get closer to our first races at Mt. Sima.
I couldn’t do any of this without all the people who support me and help make it happen. Thank you to my coaches, my family, friends, teammates, and all the volunteers. A special thank you to our team sponsors: GMC Dealers of Alberta, Karbon, Genstar, and GearUp. It takes a lot to make ski racing possible, and I’m super grateful for all the support!
