Picabo's Got an Agenda

Picabo Street found her way back into the world's elite after last week's downhill in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. She reached a promising 7th place, her first top-10 since returning to the race circuit last December.

This result gives her more momentum as she looks ahead to her goal: to be a competitive racer at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, where she hopes to carry the American flag at the opening ceremony.

"The biggest reason for my improvement is that I'm not afraid anymore. I'm skiing with no fear now..."

But Picabo will not be at the World Cup finals in Are, Sweden, this week. After having missed the qualification by a mere two points, Lenzerheide was her last World Cup race. However, she plans to return home to participate in some US and Canadian competitions. Here are her feelings and comments about her top-10 finish in Lenzerheide and her first full season back on the World Cup circuit.

Questions by Manuèle Lang:
Picabo, your 7th place in Lenzerheide meant a lot to you?

Picabo Street:
Me and Lenzerheide, it's the same kind of love story as the one I have with Cortina d'Ampezzo. I have a lot of good memories from this place; I feel confident in the hill. I think I probably could have finished in the top five if they would have started the race from the top. The upper course perfectly suits me with its fast gliding section. I was the fastest there in both training runs earlier this week.

I won my first downhill World Cup title here in 1995, and the people were always so nice to me, they supported me. They were so glad to see me again. There is so much positive energy around here.

The snow was not forgiving — it was so hard. I changed a couple of things in my boots, I put a different plate under my skis to find better balance in the turns. I also try to concentrate on skiing more with my knees and not with my hips. The biggest reason for my improvement is that I'm not afraid anymore. I'm skiing with no fear now — that's the biggest improvement, the key for doing better. If I'm not afraid, I feel confident. I know I can be very fast. In fact, I took a lot of risks in the training runs, so many that I missed some gates. But I didn't ski the turns so well, especially the one that I missed in training, so 7th is okay.

I kept myself going hard. I knew I had a good time, so I pushed my skis really hard in the next few turns, and I let them go in the last turn, a nice one, until the bottom. I was really fast at the bottom and down at the flats. It's a good feeling.

Lang:
How has your first season back on the World Cup circuit worked out for you?

Street:
Things started to change in January at Cortina, but I really had a good feeling at Pra-Loup during some Europa Cup events held during the Worlds at St. Anton. The story is that I didn't want to go to the Europa Cup and be beat. I had this 'now I'm on the World Cup tour and here I am' attitude. But I skied with a lot of passion there and clocked the best times in training. The races went okay. I didn't win but I came here knowing that I had a good chance.

Even if it's the end of the season, it's good for my mind. I have a good base to work on this summer. Now I am going to Canada, and then to the Nor-Am and Super Series races, so I still have a couple of things to do. Thirteen races in total and the season is over. I have a lot of things to work on to be faster. This top-10 finish is a strong boost for my confidence. I have a program now to come back, and that's the most important.

Picabo is sponsored by Bolle eyewear.