Scott Kneller

My best performance to date and it was at the Olympic Games, it doesn’t get much better than that.

The day of competition was incredible, beautiful weather, a packed stadium and the Olympic spirit everywhere. I took just two training runs trying to keep myself fresh for the finals but even that was almost too much, the course is so long and technical I was really hurting. The course had frozen overnight and it was running fast, everyone  was forced to check speed in areas because we were overshooting the landings.

My qualification run went alright. I made mistakes all over the place, struggling with the speed. The course had baked in the sun for over an hour after training slowing down the course and making speed hard to judge.  Running 33rd (last) I started almost an hour after the first competitor, a huge disadvantage in the spring conditions. I finished the run in 12th, a career best. I was really confident going into the final I had made mistakes but I was still fast. A big thankyou to my tech Ken he nailed the wax

First round I had a great start and went to the front. I made a mistake in the third berm though and lost my speed, allowing Audun Groenvold to pass me on the inside. I sat in behind him for the majority of the run, before I over shot the triple and was rocked so bad in the next couple of features it was a miracle I wasn’t passed. I finished the heat in second and progressed to the quarterfinals.

I had my work cut out for me in the quarterfinals, but again I slotted in behind Audun and finished the heat in 2nd. I tried to work Audun out the whole way down he was checking everywhere but I just couldn’t find the speed to pass him, and when I got close I made a small errors and had to drop behind him again. I progressed to my first semi final.

The semi was stacked, as you would expect. I had a great start and again slipped in behind Audun. Going into turn 5 though, I went wide following Audun and Chris Delbosco of Canada slipped past on my inside (rookie mistake), I heard the roar from the crowd below before I even saw him. I followed the boys down trying to find a spot to past but I soon ran out of room and finished the heat in third, settling for the small final.

The different format of qualifications and finals on the same day was taking its toll. My leg was cramping uncontrollably. Kerry Staples (the team physio) worked his magic though and I pulled out for the small final with all I had left.

My worst start of the day. I overshot the first wu-tang then cased the second, quickly dismissed to fourth place. I waited patiently for my chance to pass.  I drafted the leaders in heading out of the corckscrew section and into the straight. I made a great press on the step up and passed Barr and Flisar going into turn five, the exact same move Delbosco made on me. I sat in behind Enak and moved on his inside over the jump, he saw me and moved in to close the gap, I missed the press alltogther and went big, landing at the gate. I squeaked my legs around the panel and went down in the sugary snow, my legs unable to hold me up. I crashed into the path of the other skiers and caused Flisar to miss a gate. I got up shook it off and skied into the roaring crowd to claim my 7th place.

It was disappointing to miss the Final by such a small margin but I’m so happy with my result. The best part was having my family there watching, its the first time they have seen me race so it was really special. Michael Schmid from Switzerland won the day and deservedly so, he was untouchable all day, Andreas Matt second and Audun Grunvold third.

I want to thank everyone for their support its been an amazing journey and to come out and deliver my best performance at the Olympic Games it’s a dream come true.

Thankyou to Steve Cuff and Lauri Lassila for the photos