Ep 47

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Welcome to the blank podcast. This
is a huge week ahead. Today we

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discussed the final week of Olympic qualifying
with to Time Olympian Preston Garffall. Welcome

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on, old friend. Hey,
thank you so much, Brenna. It's

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great to be here. I know
it's been a while since I've been able

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to talk louge. This is great. Yeah, and we I haven't seen

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you since you're like four years like
when you I think we're in Colorado Springs,

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retiring from the military, right.
Isn't now the last time I saw

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you? Yeah, yeah, likely. I know. It's been interesting.

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I can't believe how much time has
passed since since I guess retired from the

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sport and I haven't even been back
to lake plastid since then. Actually,

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I think it was followed two thousand
and thirteen. So it's is still a

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kind of it seems like yesterday,
but it's a standing how many years have

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gone by? Well, keep in
mind and write it down in your your

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calendar. We're having a golf fundraiser
for the US Loge Foundation on June eleven,

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so I know I'm trying to get
as many alums out there to like

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classids. So you got it.
You gotta put it in the calendar.

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Get out there, all right,
June eleven. That sounds great. That

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would be a good, good excuse
to get out to like plaster against see

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everyone. That sounds wonderful. Mark
it down to the calendar. Perfect,

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all right. So can you help
me remember? You know, obviously all

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lose athletes start out on a single
sled and then they gradually, you know,

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coaches might introduce them to doubles.
And you slid initially with Dan Joy.

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Is that right? You started off
with Dan that's yeah, that's correct.

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Dan and I slid for actually,
I think about eight years together,

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which, yeah, was was pretty
remarkable. I mean originally when, like

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you said, started out in singles
and then and started sliding doubles together,

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which turned out to be a good
thing. So and then, I know,

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so you made the two thousand and
six Torino Olympics with Dan joy and

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the two thousand and fourteen Olympics with
Matt Mortonson. Can you talk me through

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the transition between Dan Joy and oh
sex and Matt and two thousand and fourteen?

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What what happened between there? Yeah, so Dan and I compete in

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two thousand and six Olympics, like
you said, and then that next year,

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two thousand and seven season, we
really, I think, kind of

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start going through some growing pains and
I think kind of felt like we'd potentially

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hit our our our maximum potential as
as a team and I think in the

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end it we just kind of realized
that maybe the best option was to start

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looking for for other other teammates,
other other ways to kind of fill in

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where we were missing. and honestly, a big part of that as both

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Dan and I are are relatively smaller
people and and, as we know,

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loses a gravity sport, and so
having that mass, having that extra way

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that can that can often help,
especially in some of those tracks where speed

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is much more of a thing and
and those tracks source not quite as technical

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and and I think in comparison to
a lot of the other athletes, a

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lot of the other doubles athletes specifically, that we were racing against, you

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know, it was visibly you could
see there there's a difference. We were

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smaller, little bit shorter than probably
most of the ore a lot of the

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other athletes. And and so I
think is kind of interesting because as Dan

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and I started to make that realization, started looking for solutions to that kind

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of the the answer to that.
And what happened was, well, then

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Dan continued to be a bottom slider
and and then I transition from being the

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top man to to the bottom and
which I think is quite an unusual move

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and lose and perhaps I'm not sure
if that's actually ever happened before. And

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so yeah, I transitioned over and
started sliding with Matt Mortenson and he was

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already the top driver in another doubles
team. And and then I transition into

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becoming the the bottom driver and it
certainly took some time getting used to that

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and transitioning to that move for me
specifically. But and and I think you

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can kind of see that specifically as
I compete with Dan in two thousand and

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six and then man two thousand and
fourteen. Obviously there was an Olympics in

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between there that Matt and I missed
out on. It came down to a

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race off, but I think that
probably had something to do with kind of

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that transition period. I've never done
doubles, but it's my understanding like in

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general, generally speaking, the top
driver is the one who's doing the really

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big steers. They're using their legs
and then the bottom driver kind of like

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help smooth things out. They they
are the connection to the the back of

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the sled and they really are kind
of finesse things down the track. Would

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I mean, would that be a
fair characterization, if you know, generally

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speaking? Yeah, I think generally
speaking, you know, that's that's pretty

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pretty close out works. You know, I think, of course every doubles

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team is different and really in doubles
it's two people trying to work is one

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and and that's really what makes it
so much different and and in some cases

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more difficult than single sliding, because
it really takes a lot of time and

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experience in order to to kind of
Mesh together and figure out, you know,

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your style of sliding and what each
person on the sled is going to

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bring to that. And Yeah,
like you said, you know the top

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driver is because you're kind of laying
one one person in front of the other.

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The top driver is the only one
that can see directly in front of

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the sled and and see exactly where
where you're entering and exiting the curves,

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and so the other one that's really
making all the corrections and making sure that

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you're entering exiting the curves in the
place that you want to be. And

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and then you know, the backcharver, the bottom driver is, yeah,

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the one that's mostly in contact with
the sled, and so really, I

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mean they're almost acting like a shock
absorber. You know, they're trying to

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absorb the vibrations, the bumps from
the track and but also because they're in

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contact with the sled. Really,
yeah, they're they're the force that glues

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the sled down to the ice and
so they need to be able to relax

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push into the sled and they can
also make very hard steers, very big

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kind of adjusting steers, because they
can really put a lot of pressure into

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the sled with their shoulders and and
also still with their feet. And so,

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you know, really the whole time
they're trying to as they're going down

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the track, they're trying to feel
what's going on, where the pressure is

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in the curves and and adjusting to
that and trying to absorb any bumps or

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any inaccuracies as you're going down and
then making, you know, some of

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those large steers to make corrections if
necessary. Based on that description, I

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can definitely understand and see why you
had a hard a tough time transitioning between

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being a top driver who can see
everything ahead of you and then having to

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go down, you know, Underneath
Matt and having to learn really a whole

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new way of driving. So,
yeah, wow, that must have been

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tough. Yeah, yeah, it
really was. I mean it was honestly

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a lot harder than I thought it
was going to be, a a lot

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harder than I anticipate. I I
kind of initially I was like, Oh,

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yeah, no problem, yeah,
jump, I will slide together,

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it's going to be great, like, no problem. And then, yeah,

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quickly realize that no, this is
kind of a completely different thing and

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and I have to be able to, you know, try and understand what

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Matt's doing on the fly and then
learn how to essentially completely slide through feeling

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without being able to see in front
of in front of the sled and exactly

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where we're going. In two thousand
and ten Mark Gramett and Brian Martin made

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the Olympic team. I think that's
the team you had to race off against.

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And then, of course, your
old doubles teammate Dan joy slid with

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his new doubles teammate, Christian Nikum. Can you tell me about the the

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race off. Where was the race
off that you competed against Gramatt Martin?

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Yeah, so, yeah, that's
that's a right. We, Matt and

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I, race off against mark and
Brian and that, I believe, came

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down to the final World Cup before
the Olympic selection, which happened to be

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in lilahmmer, Norway, and so, much like what you had alluded to,

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this coming World Cup in Segoulda will
be the final, final race before

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the Olympic selection. That was kind
of the position that Matt and I found

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ourselves in and and it came down
to for us, it was a best

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two out of three runs. Yeah, it was. It was a close

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race. It was really close race. Matt and I, to be honest,

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at that time we had three of
our best runs that we had had

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in lilahammer and we honestly thought that
we were going to make the Olympic team.

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And it was. It was kind
of back and forth and it came

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down to several hundreds of a second. That made the difference between making the

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two thousand and ten Olympic team and
not. And of course, you know,

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mark and Brian had years and years
of experience underneath their belt and two

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Olympic medals and you know, I
mean they had been in those pressure situations

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before and and Matt and I were
relatively new doubles team and so you know,

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of course we knew it was going
to be a hard race and and

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mark and Brian we're going to show
up and put down some good runs and

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it it turned out to be good
race, really close and unfortunately matt and

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I were on the, I guess, losing end of that that race off.

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What was your proudest moment on a
double sled, whether it was with

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Dan joy or with Matt Mortinson?
What would you say you're most proud of?

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One of the first things that comes
to my mind is is making that

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first Olympic team in two thousand and
six with Dan Joy. I think a

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lot of that was just kind of
the situation, the the timing of it.

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I think Dan and I were a
little bit of the underdog coming into

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that. There weren't really quite as
many expectations for us to make that team

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and mark and Brian were also racing
and then there was the other team of

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Christian Nikom and Patrick Quinn. It
came down to the final race again before

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the Olympic selection was made. It
was that race was being or World Cup

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was being held in late last New
York and at that point Christian and Patrick

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hadn't received an a tier, they
hadn't gone to top five in World Cup,

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and so that was kind of their
last chance to force our situation into

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a race off, and they they
you know, all cards were on the

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table. They raced well and they
finished fourth in that World Cup and League

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placid and because of that we were
tied with both a tears and that forced

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it into again a kind of sudden
death, you know, race off,

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winner takes all makes it to the
Olympics. Christian and Patrick were sliding really

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well. They had just come off
a fourth place finish in the World Cup

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on that track. We knew that. Christian Patrick were sliding really well.

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They had the track down. We
weren't sliding as well that week and and

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this was this was it. Our
fifth place on the Olympic track that year

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didn't matter anymore. We had to
perform in that moment. That that morning

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of the race off, it was
cold, the ice was incredibly hard.

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You know, kin nerves were going
and and we had this kind of alternating

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back and forth. And so really
it came down to that third run.

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It was best two runs and the
ice had been getting faster, chef,

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and so no, it's cold when
it's getting faster. Yeah, yeah,

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exactly. And and so I think
Dan and I were ahead been maybe two

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hundreds of a second or so.
It was a couple hundreds. And so

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because of that, on the final
run, Christian pastrick went first, we

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were going second and you know,
as Christian Patrick or going down, Dan

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and I are sitting at the handles
waiting to go and it's, you know,

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trying to stay focused, trying to
stay in the game, but of

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course you can hear the clock going
and and then it was pretty quiet because

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there weren't any spectators there, and
we hear the clock stop. So Christian

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Patrick had gone through the finish eye
and all I can hear is Christian at

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the bottom of the track screaming and
yelling and of course I saw the time

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they've gone. They'd had the fastest
run of the entire morning and because of

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that they they were ahead of us
now, and so that meant the not

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only did Dan and I have to
have a good run, but we had

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to have a faster run than we
had had all money. We basically had

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to have a perfect run and that
was it. Now became a one run

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race, essentially. Yeah, yeah, and and we knew that and you

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know Dan and I both we just
said, hey, let's do this.

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We locked in and and we just
went forward and and had probably the best

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run of the entire week for us
and and beat them out by a couple

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hundre it of the second and and
just that feeling of putting it all together

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such high pressure, making our first
Olympic team. That was that was super

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special. So you know both sides
of the coin. You know that feeling,

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that amazing pride and then probably what
Patrick and Christian were feeling, because

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you've gone through that four years later, I imagine you're similar to me and

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you are not envious of the current
team, like I never want to go

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through something that difficult again. That
right. Oh my gosh. Yeah,

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until you're in that moment, it's
it's hard to imagine what that feels like

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and how much pressure there is on
you. And and and yeah, I've

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I've spoken with couple people from the
team and I know there's there are a

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lot of nerves. As a lot
of stress going on and there's a lot

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of pressure on them right now and
and yeah, I'm certainly not not envious,

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in the next couple days, you
know, a lot of that pressure

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will be relieved, a lot of
that tress will be relieve one way or

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the other, either the ultimate hi
making the Olympic team, or having to

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put your head down and Fegar out
how you're gonna work for the next four

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years try and make the next lympig
team. So tell me what you've been

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up to since you retired from both
lose and the W cap program yeah,

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yeah, so I know, like, like I said, it's hard to

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believe how much times already passed and
what I've been up to, because it

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really seems like yesterday since I was
on the team and traveling around and racing.

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But yeah, after the two thousand
and fourteen Olympics, when I retired

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from the sport, I went back
to school. I finished my bachelor's degree

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at the University Utah and then during
that time I found some interest in some

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some other programs there. I decided
to go go back to school after that

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and and I got my master's degree
in Information Systems from the university Utah as

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well, and and then after that
I started working for a biotech company,

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a local biotech company called biofire,
and now I'm working for actually the parent

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company, which is a French biotech
company named Beomere. You, and I'm

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working on their global commercial performance team, helping to largely create pricing policies for

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all their different subsidiaries globally. So
kind of also working with data. Still

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analyze, analyzing trends and local market
data. And well, I know you're

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living out do you live in Salt
Lake or park city? Yep, I

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live in Salt Lake City. Chris
Manser lives out there as well and I

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follow you guys both on social media
and I see a lot of his posts

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and Preston's always there with him.
I'm you know, whether it's skiing in

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the spring or climbing some place together. So you guys have a pretty good

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relationship and you help him train a
little bit in the offseason. Yeah,

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yeah, I actually Chris and I
actually lives together for quite a few years

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out here up until just, you
know, maybe two or three years ago.

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And Yeah, now he only lives
about ten minutes away from from me,

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so we actually see each other all
the time when he's when he's not

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competing or, you know, on
the road. And Yeah, we're still,

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you know, when we get together, that competitive side comes out and

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it seems like we're still on the
team together, where we're constantly, you

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know, trying to push each other
and one up each other and and see,

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you know, who can, who
can go the hardest or do maybe

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the most extreme which turns out to
also be the kind of dumbest thing that

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we can find ourselves doing. Didn't
you tarry your acl a few years back

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on like a big ski off peaced
type thing like and he had to carry

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you down? Yeah, yeah,
that was quite quite the adventure. Yeah,

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Chris and I and then one of
our there buddies from the US snowboard

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team actually wear out backcountry skiing and
yeah, I had a bad accident.

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Ended up going off of a cliff
unintentionally and and blowing my knee completely out,

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tearing my Acl, tearing my Lcl, part of my MCL, I

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put a hole in the bottom of
my femer and yeah, it was actually

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where I ended up. Chris had
already gone down. Was sometit at the

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bottom of the run I could see
him, we were in contact and and

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he could see that I taken a
big crash and my skis had come off

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and and as I sat there and
kind of gathered my thoughts and everything,

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you know, I waved him I
was like Hey, I think I'm okay,

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I'm going to just get up and, you know, find my ski

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and as soon as I stood up, my knee, my leg pretty much

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is completely gave out. And and
so, yeah, he had to hike

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back up. He helped me find
my ski and then at this point we

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were kind of far back in the
mountains and so had hike back up,

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which which he helped me get back
up to the Ridgeline and then had to

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ski of swords, kind of sciously, mostly sliding, back down the other

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side of the mountain to get back
to where the car was. And I

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think of all the people, of
all the people to have that experience with,

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it's he's probably the best because he
seems to have like constant energy.

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He never gets tired and you know, like we kind of thought we've seen

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that for the last four years,
right, like here's this guy doing double

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duty. Have you talked to lately? Yeah, he's yeah, he's relentless.

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I mean his his since he was
thirteen, fourteen years old coming on

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the team, the guy that just, you know, never stopped, always

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pushing himself as hard as he could
and and seemed like just a never ending

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source of energy. And Yeah,
I speak to Chris on a pretty regular

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basis, even, you know,
when they're over in Europe and on the

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road racing, and spoke to him
just a couple days ago and and yeah,

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it's I can't imagine what he's doing
right now, competing both singles and

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doubles. You know, he's on
a regular basis having two sessions a day

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at the track for hours and hours
every single day. And and you know,

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a lot of these tracks, the
the difference between where the doubles start

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and then the men's start is a
is a huge difference in speed and in,

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you know, the number of curves
that you're you're going down the track.

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And to be able to mentally switch
from immediately going from either singles or

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doubles to the other within, you
know, a couple hours of each other,

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is is takes a huge mental toll
and also, you know, a

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physical told just being at the track
that long, having to work on two

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different sleds all the time, a
crisis, a machine. I don't know.

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I don't know how he's doing it. Right, I like just you

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describing it makes me tired, right, I know, but it seems like,

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you know, like the last I
saw he posted something about like they

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made a decision on their sled.
It sounds like they're using an old sled

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that Jason used with Matt, you
know, leading up to the Pyeongchang Games.

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So they've I think they've kind of
settled on that. And then in

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the World Cup this last weekend,
well, the first run was a little

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rough. They had a start issue
at the you know, the winner Berg

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start often gives people an issue.
But their second run was fast, fourth

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fastest. So I think they've got
it, you know home. Yeah,

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exactly. You know, like I
said, they've been trying to figure out

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equipment and and and, yeah,
they had a brand new sled that they've

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been trying to figure out this year, trying to put it together and and

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and they've just been having a lot
of problems with it. As sounds like,

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you know, they haven't been able
to get it to click and and

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define the speed and the consistency that
they need. And so with, you

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know, the this World Cup coming
up and this next weekend in sugould and

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that being the final race before Olympic
team selection, I think they just made

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that decision where they knew that the
sled that Jason had, the one that

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man him raced on, they knew
that that that sled was put together,

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it had a good setup or has
a good setup, and and they knew

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that they would be able to get
back to some consistency on that. And

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so I think at this point,
with just the time constraint and and the

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need to to really put some races
together here, they made that decision to

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to go back to that sled.
And and yeah, like you said,

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you know, you can see that
in their second run in Winterberg this this

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past week and with the fourth fastest
time. I mean that that's sled is

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is fast and as a good setup. And and yeah, had it not

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been for, you know, some
troubles on the start in their first run,

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who knows, you know, maybe
they could have come out there with

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a really good result. But but
nonetheless, you know, it's good to

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see that with that sled they found
some speed and so hopefully having a whole

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week here of training on that sled
in Stogulda. Hopefully that will really pay

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off and with some with some fast
runs and some consistency this weekend in school

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the because, yeah, right now
it looks like none of the doubles teams

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have have reached a tear for the
only the qualifier. So it's going to

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be tough. Yeah, it's coming
is coming down to the the final race,

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which it it always does, really
is seems like he had always does,

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and so it'll be an exciting race
to watch. So, going back

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a little bit to Winterberg, Chris
and Jason, they found the speed.

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I don't know if you saw.
Took a look at the women's time sheets,

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but man, Emily Sweeney had extremely
fast splits. She got a little

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bit eaten up down there the labyrinth
on the last the actually both runs.

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She crashed on the last run,
but she had like second third fastest splits

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in the middle of the track.
So again, the speed is there and

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I really think, I feel like
the team is going to end up peeking

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at the optimal time. Yeah,
absolutely. Actually, looking at all of

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the women's time you can see that
all of them going down the track they

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were making up time on the field, which is a huge indication of good

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sliding and really finding the right set
up for that track for that weather.

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Emily was just cooking summer. Britcher, you know, I don't know if

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you saw any of the race on
TV at all, but she finished fifth

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place, which officially verifies her pre
qualifications the Olympic Games. But you could

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tell that she had her sled up, sled set up to go fast,

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because she was right on that edge
of like almost out of control, but

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she held it together and like you
know what I mean, like her setup

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was fast and she was she held
it together and she got what she needed

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to get. So props to her. No, absolutely that, you know,

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an exciting weekend for her getting that
top five which then secures her place

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on the Olympic team, and so
congratulations to her on that. That's amazing.

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And Yeah, you know, I
mean that's kind of that fine line

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there that everybody's trying to figure out
where it's you know, you can you

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can find that speed and also just
have enough control to navigate down the track

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and it's one thing to find that
where you're kind of writing that line,

335
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but without the consistency, you know
you're not going to be up there on

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the podium because it's takes both your
runs and in the Olympics for runs.

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So hopefully now she's found that she
can, she can get more comfortable on

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that set up and kind of fear
out. Had to control that, that

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that line and of you know,
kind of being on the verge of out

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of control. And then we were
talking a little bit about doubles and you

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know, like you said, none
of them have qualified for a tear yet.

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So it was actually just announced yesterday
that there will be a race off

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on Friday. The Nation's Cup will
count as a race soft, so basically

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one run, and if over the
weekend nobody reaches a tier qualification, it

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will be based off of the nation's
Cup finish on Friday. However, if

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you know they you know, like
you mentioned, Chris and Jason pull out

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ten place and they're the only one
to get a seatier, they're going to

348
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be the one sled that goes.
So pressure is high on Friday and over

349
00:28:51.109 --> 00:28:53.990
the weekend, especially, like you
know, a one run race nations cup

350
00:28:55.109 --> 00:29:00.420
is already pretty stressful. But yeah, it could be the the you know

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00:29:00.619 --> 00:29:03.740
what, who we send to the
Olympics the this year for doubles. So

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yeah, surely talking about, yeah, extreme pressure that it doesn't get more

353
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than that one run race. I
mean that's I mean that's kind of hard

354
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to comprehend and to think about the
everything for four years that you've been working

355
00:29:18.890 --> 00:29:22.970
tours comes down to one single run. And not only that, that's before

356
00:29:23.130 --> 00:29:27.960
the World Cup even happened. So
if you know, if you don't have

357
00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:32.799
a good run there, you don't
make the World Cup and then your chances

358
00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:37.640
are over. But but even even
if you know all three of you have

359
00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:41.549
have pretty good runs and you all
make the World Cup, you kind of

360
00:29:41.670 --> 00:29:45.910
know that if you don't perform in
the World Cup, now you know who

361
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won that race off, so you
know who's going to make it to the

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Olympics. And and wow, that's
just that that it's a whole weekend full

363
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of pressure and stress. But it'll
be exciting, exciting for us to watch.

364
00:30:00.220 --> 00:30:02.779
Well, I was going to say
for for those listening. If you

365
00:30:02.980 --> 00:30:07.099
know, unfortunately the nation's cup isn't
televised, but we can, you know,

366
00:30:07.250 --> 00:30:11.089
get up Friday morning and go to
the fil website and look at the

367
00:30:11.650 --> 00:30:15.329
time sheets. That I'll give you
the first clue of what could be planned

368
00:30:15.410 --> 00:30:21.880
for the Olympic Games and then definitely
watch on Olympic Channelcom for the the doubles

369
00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:25.160
race this weekend, because it's going
to be pretty exciting. And I know

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00:30:25.319 --> 00:30:29.720
it's not just the American team that's
got all this stress on them. It's

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00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:33.000
all the nations. I know,
I do believe the German team is decided

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00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:37.269
already by now, but I know
a lot of other teams are still kind

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00:30:37.309 --> 00:30:41.390
of where we are, where we're
deciding the last floods. Yeah, yeah,

374
00:30:41.390 --> 00:30:44.910
I know there are still a lot
of a lot of spots up for

375
00:30:45.029 --> 00:30:48.589
grab a lot of different countries.
So yeah, it's not it's not just

376
00:30:48.789 --> 00:30:52.859
the US team that's under a lot
of stress and pressure this weekend. It's

377
00:30:52.099 --> 00:30:56.539
it's fun to wash because I think
pretty much everyone's going to be putting everything

378
00:30:56.619 --> 00:30:59.500
on the line and going for it. So that's right. Yeah, I'll

379
00:30:59.539 --> 00:31:02.539
see. Let's talk a little bit
about Segulda, you know, and I

380
00:31:02.660 --> 00:31:06.130
think the team arrived on Monday.
Have you had a chance to talk with

381
00:31:06.250 --> 00:31:10.210
Chris since he got to Segulda?
Yeah, yeah, so I did actually,

382
00:31:10.450 --> 00:31:14.650
and it's kind of interesting. Times
that were living in right now with

383
00:31:14.849 --> 00:31:19.960
covid and everything that's going on,
because for me at least, Segol those

384
00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:23.599
on my favorite places to go and
you know, it's a neat little town.

385
00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:29.319
There's a lot of fun stuff to
do and and talking with Chris,

386
00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:33.269
there in full lock down there.
There's they're staying in some apartments and it

387
00:31:33.349 --> 00:31:38.829
sounds like, aside from training,
they're pretty much not allowed to leave the

388
00:31:38.990 --> 00:31:45.789
apartments, and so it's you know
that. I don't kind of add to

389
00:31:45.950 --> 00:31:48.859
that that tension, though. You
know that. I mean it's there's no

390
00:31:48.980 --> 00:31:53.180
outside force for them or outside ability
for them to go out and, you

391
00:31:53.259 --> 00:31:57.579
know, relieve a little stress,
to just walk around and think about something

392
00:31:57.619 --> 00:32:00.380
else for a little bit. You're
kind of stuck in this bubble where you're

393
00:32:00.849 --> 00:32:06.049
where, you're in your room,
you're in your apartment and and you don't

394
00:32:06.049 --> 00:32:09.450
really have anything else to do but
think about lose that entire time. The

395
00:32:09.609 --> 00:32:14.529
weather they're it's it's a little bit
warmer. I know last week in Winterburg

396
00:32:14.730 --> 00:32:20.480
it was really warm and that play
some factories in the ice. But we'll

397
00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:23.240
see. We'll see how that affects
the the track here and in school the

398
00:32:23.640 --> 00:32:28.559
this week. Yeah, I was
looking at the weather APP but it looks

399
00:32:28.599 --> 00:32:31.789
like it's at least under freezing,
so that's good. I know it can

400
00:32:31.829 --> 00:32:37.029
be humid. They're in SCHOOLDA,
being so close to the Baltic Sea,

401
00:32:37.349 --> 00:32:40.230
so you know frost can always be
an issue. But again it's going to

402
00:32:40.269 --> 00:32:45.140
be under, you know, freezing, so that that's hopefully a good thing

403
00:32:45.299 --> 00:32:50.660
for us. I know it'll be
interesting and you know, maybe maybe a

404
00:32:50.900 --> 00:32:54.660
little bit warmer weather and school the
will it will take away from a little

405
00:32:54.660 --> 00:32:58.500
bit of the stress, because for
me one of the things that I felt

406
00:32:58.500 --> 00:33:07.690
like school those like notorious for having
just unbearably cold weather which just created the

407
00:33:07.890 --> 00:33:14.000
hardest ice you can imagine on a
very tricky track, and I think that

408
00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:22.960
all of those things combined kind of
created a lot of stress. I think

409
00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:24.799
maybe with that, a little bit
of warmer weather, you know the they'll

410
00:33:24.839 --> 00:33:29.910
have a little bit more grip with
with the sleds, and so it maybe

411
00:33:29.990 --> 00:33:36.190
you will ease ease their minds a
little bit. Yea. And also speaking

412
00:33:36.269 --> 00:33:40.579
with Chris, sounds like there was
just a Bob Slid World Cup that recently

413
00:33:40.740 --> 00:33:45.980
and so he said. Looking at
the profiles, they look like they're maybe

414
00:33:45.980 --> 00:33:51.140
a little bit more open than they
typically are, which could could make the

415
00:33:51.259 --> 00:33:55.529
track a little bit more forgiving than
than it usually is. So, oh,

416
00:33:55.650 --> 00:34:01.650
that's good. KNOWS, couple factors
there and and maybe it'll even the

417
00:34:01.730 --> 00:34:08.010
playing field and make for some close
racing. It is one of those tracks

418
00:34:08.090 --> 00:34:13.000
where, you know, I know
the Austrians for from the beginning of time

419
00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:16.840
they always have gone to Segulda,
very first track like. So the Austrians

420
00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:21.440
are really good and Segulda, you
know, of course the Russians are good

421
00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:24.030
and of course the Latvians are really
good. So it's it's one of those

422
00:34:24.070 --> 00:34:30.269
tracks where on the podium you'll see
some some sleds that maybe aren't on the

423
00:34:30.429 --> 00:34:37.230
podium and on the German tracks perhaps, which which can be good for us.

424
00:34:37.230 --> 00:34:39.860
Yeah, absolutely. I mean I
think historically, you know, the

425
00:34:39.940 --> 00:34:45.780
US is done really well in schooled
and I think you know, and like

426
00:34:45.940 --> 00:34:49.099
you said, a lot of a
lot of countries that typically aren't up there

427
00:34:49.260 --> 00:34:53.570
on the podium have made their way
onto it in school. Then I think

428
00:34:53.570 --> 00:34:58.050
there will be a really good opportunity
for a lot of the US leds to

429
00:34:58.530 --> 00:35:02.489
to do well and to possibly,
you know, meet that criteria that they

430
00:35:02.570 --> 00:35:09.000
need to which which could be exciting
and will be fun. The track itself

431
00:35:09.159 --> 00:35:13.960
isn't really that fast. I mean
I don't even think men's floods get up

432
00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:17.320
to eighty miles per hour, but
it is pretty technical. Some really tight

433
00:35:17.559 --> 00:35:24.190
curves and they're what would you say
makes Segoulda Segulda like? When you think

434
00:35:24.230 --> 00:35:29.030
of Segulda, what do you think
about? Yeah, I mean to cool.

435
00:35:29.110 --> 00:35:31.949
That is is kind of a unique
track. You know, it's one

436
00:35:31.949 --> 00:35:37.380
of the only tracks. It's the
the top of the track is largely supported

437
00:35:37.420 --> 00:35:42.300
by these really tall pillars and so
it's elevated, you know, off the

438
00:35:42.500 --> 00:35:45.739
ground, and because of that I
think that's kind of the one of the

439
00:35:45.820 --> 00:35:50.130
first things when you see the track. And and for me, when I

440
00:35:50.250 --> 00:35:54.050
think of Segould, I think of
entering into the gates to the track and

441
00:35:54.130 --> 00:35:59.090
you see that and it's really quite
intimidating, to be honest. You see

442
00:35:59.130 --> 00:36:02.530
this track that's that's, you know, so high up off the ground and

443
00:36:04.090 --> 00:36:09.480
and and you know it's a technical
track and because of that I think you

444
00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:16.280
kind of go into it with this
almost nervousness and and a little bit of

445
00:36:16.679 --> 00:36:22.829
mystique about it that you're not sure
you know what's what it's going to what's

446
00:36:22.869 --> 00:36:25.349
going to happen as you're going down
and and you know that there are a

447
00:36:25.429 --> 00:36:31.590
couple sections on the track that you
have to be extremely precise, precise in

448
00:36:31.750 --> 00:36:44.019
those corners and if not, the
twelve thirteen section of the track is one

449
00:36:44.059 --> 00:36:46.809
of those areas you have to be
very precise and and that can really make

450
00:36:46.889 --> 00:36:52.010
or break the run. You know, and and will be a large deciding

451
00:36:52.090 --> 00:36:55.250
point in the race because if you're
not, if you don't nail that line

452
00:36:55.289 --> 00:37:00.480
through curve eleven to set you up
for that thirteen transition, you can if

453
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:07.000
you're off by any any small margin, you know you can, you can

454
00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:10.159
easily crash. And even if you
don't crash, the corrections that you need

455
00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:15.309
to make to be able to then
navigate those those turns, you're going to

456
00:37:15.429 --> 00:37:21.949
lose a lot of time. And
and and that low were a section of

457
00:37:21.989 --> 00:37:25.269
the track. It's kind of interesting
because you go through this very technical section

458
00:37:25.309 --> 00:37:32.059
straight into these really long straight aways
and that second straight away actually goes back

459
00:37:32.179 --> 00:37:39.780
up hill, and so any speed
that you lose in that twelve thirteen curve

460
00:37:39.980 --> 00:37:46.250
section is just going to be compounded
through those straight aways and and you'll just

461
00:37:46.369 --> 00:37:52.250
see the time kind of bleed away
there if you've made any mistake. One

462
00:37:52.289 --> 00:37:55.610
of the worst crashes I ever saw
was it was I was a junior,

463
00:37:55.650 --> 00:38:00.280
it was my first year in Europe. So I was watching on Eurosport the

464
00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:07.719
World Cup in Segolda and it was
an Austrian doubles team and they hit coming

465
00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:13.030
out of fourteen. So going there's
a long straight away fourteen to fifteen and

466
00:38:13.110 --> 00:38:17.429
they hit just before the curve so
that they sent went in as late as

467
00:38:17.510 --> 00:38:22.510
possible into curve fifteen. And Curve
fifteen is one of those curves that has

468
00:38:23.630 --> 00:38:28.860
maybe the most g forces on any
track. Is that right? Would you

469
00:38:28.900 --> 00:38:32.099
say that's the most? Yeah,
yeah, absolutely. And so when they

470
00:38:32.139 --> 00:38:35.940
hit that, when they eventually hit
the pressure, it was so much that

471
00:38:36.300 --> 00:38:40.019
it was a very ugly crash.
So that's one of those things that you

472
00:38:40.219 --> 00:38:45.769
have to when you're entering that curve, entering curve fifteen, you want to

473
00:38:45.769 --> 00:38:50.250
be on that left hand side.
But if you hit the current, that

474
00:38:50.329 --> 00:38:52.769
hit the wall. Old hit the
left wall beforehand. Forget it. It's

475
00:38:52.849 --> 00:38:55.960
not it's not good. Oh yeah, now you're in. You're in for

476
00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:00.320
a wild right at that point.
And Yeah, actually, if I can

477
00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:02.400
go back a second and when you
ask your valley when the first thing that

478
00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:07.159
I think about when I think of
the track is sugold. Now it's a

479
00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:10.230
thinking about it. Probably the first
thing that comes to mind when I think

480
00:39:10.269 --> 00:39:17.150
about segold and the track there is
just intimidation. It's intimidating the track itself,

481
00:39:17.190 --> 00:39:22.190
I think the allure of it.
It's in kind of a remote place.

482
00:39:22.989 --> 00:39:30.739
It's oftentime kind of cloudy and fowey
dark and because it's so far north,

483
00:39:30.860 --> 00:39:34.820
you know they don't get a lot
of sunlight. And then also just

484
00:39:35.340 --> 00:39:38.730
the I feel like as an athlete, especially the first time you go there,

485
00:39:38.849 --> 00:39:45.530
you've already heard so many stories about
the track, about curve fifteen and

486
00:39:45.650 --> 00:39:49.329
how much pressure, how many g
forces are in that turn, and so

487
00:39:49.449 --> 00:39:53.639
immediately before you even set foot on
that track you're already nervous and intimidated by

488
00:39:53.719 --> 00:39:59.159
it. And and then, yeah, the first time you go through or

489
00:39:59.239 --> 00:40:02.239
go down the track and the first
time you hit curve fifteen and you feel

490
00:40:02.559 --> 00:40:07.670
the g forces in the pressure on
your body, it's certainly, I think,

491
00:40:07.150 --> 00:40:12.190
like nothing else that you felt on
any other track or or really and

492
00:40:12.429 --> 00:40:17.710
any other kind of daily thing that
you could possibly think of doing. It's

493
00:40:17.750 --> 00:40:22.579
IT'S A it's a why old it's
a wild track and it's a it's a

494
00:40:22.619 --> 00:40:28.539
very it's a very interesting feeling.
But when you nail and you have a

495
00:40:28.619 --> 00:40:31.900
good run down Segulda, you know
you get to the finish line and with

496
00:40:32.019 --> 00:40:37.489
a smile on your face and and
you're excited. On this podcast I've talked

497
00:40:37.530 --> 00:40:43.610
about negative Geez and you talked about
how after fifteen it kind of goes up

498
00:40:44.530 --> 00:40:49.210
in that straightaway. So that's another
one of those really interesting feelings that you

499
00:40:49.530 --> 00:40:52.800
really only feel on a loose sled
when you're when you're going down a straight

500
00:40:52.840 --> 00:40:57.000
away and it kind of lifts up
and your sled goes up and over that

501
00:40:57.079 --> 00:41:00.719
Hump. It's such an interesting feeling, but it could be also pretty problematic.

502
00:41:01.679 --> 00:41:07.349
Oh, absolutely, yeah, yeah, I mean that curve fifteen is

503
00:41:07.429 --> 00:41:10.389
key because, like you said,
there's so much pressure and if you go

504
00:41:10.630 --> 00:41:15.789
in wrong, you're almost certainly coming
out wrong as well. And and then,

505
00:41:15.909 --> 00:41:19.780
yeah, if you come out of
curve fifteen and you're not in the

506
00:41:19.820 --> 00:41:23.579
right spot and then you get those
negative GE's, they're the sled gets really

507
00:41:23.699 --> 00:41:29.500
light and if you start steering making
any corrections. When it's really light like

508
00:41:29.659 --> 00:41:36.050
that, it makes it extremely hard
to control and it's very likely that you'll

509
00:41:36.090 --> 00:41:39.050
get yourself into trouble. And so
that will be a key spot to be

510
00:41:39.530 --> 00:41:44.650
watching this week and during the race
to see how the athletes navigate that.

511
00:41:45.489 --> 00:41:49.159
And then the CHRYSAL and scold.
So you've gone over the Hump, the

512
00:41:49.320 --> 00:41:53.159
negative Geez, and it's so important
to have a nice, smooth entrance onto

513
00:41:53.239 --> 00:41:58.000
that chrysal because you don't want to
get too much height and then start looping,

514
00:41:58.960 --> 00:42:01.030
because you could you could be winning
the whole time and then lose it

515
00:42:01.190 --> 00:42:06.030
all right there in that Chrysal and
the bottom of the track and that Krysi

516
00:42:06.110 --> 00:42:12.269
especially is completely flat. So if
you lose any time, if you don't

517
00:42:12.429 --> 00:42:16.340
enter into the CHRYSL in the in
the right place and you skid or yeah,

518
00:42:16.500 --> 00:42:21.340
you you start looping the Chrysi really
bad, covering a lot of extra

519
00:42:21.460 --> 00:42:27.780
area because it's perfectly flat there,
you're going to lose a lot more time

520
00:42:28.139 --> 00:42:31.849
than you typically would. And so, yeah, being set up for for

521
00:42:32.610 --> 00:42:38.489
entering the Chrysal in the right place
makes a huge difference and that can be

522
00:42:39.170 --> 00:42:45.239
you know, the difference between winning
and losing, because that entrance of the

523
00:42:45.239 --> 00:42:51.000
Kreisle is also very vertical, and
so if you don't enter it in the

524
00:42:51.119 --> 00:42:54.920
perfect spot, it's honestly, it
feels like hitting a wall and and you'll

525
00:42:55.159 --> 00:42:58.440
you'll skid, you'll cut a lot
of eyes, you know, lose a

526
00:42:58.519 --> 00:43:02.630
lot of time in that last curve. So big weekend this weekend. Race

527
00:43:02.710 --> 00:43:07.750
off this Friday for the doubles team
and the other the others are looking to

528
00:43:07.829 --> 00:43:12.860
firm up their tear qualifications. If
you have the team's ears right now and

529
00:43:12.940 --> 00:43:15.460
you could give them any advice or, you know, just say anything to

530
00:43:15.500 --> 00:43:21.539
them. What would you say to
the the US team right now? I

531
00:43:21.619 --> 00:43:28.730
would say to them in this moment, just trust yourself, trust the training

532
00:43:29.170 --> 00:43:34.289
that you've been doing, the trust
the process that you've been going through for

533
00:43:34.409 --> 00:43:37.889
the last four years. You all
know what to do. You've been working

534
00:43:37.969 --> 00:43:42.039
towards this, you've been working so
hard, you've put so much time into

535
00:43:42.119 --> 00:43:46.239
this. Just trust yourself and do
what you already know you can do.

536
00:43:47.599 --> 00:43:53.559
Great Advice. I would say doubt
is slow process. Bast right trusts that

537
00:43:54.199 --> 00:43:58.630
doubt is slow. Yeah, like
that. Well, I appreciate your help.

538
00:43:58.750 --> 00:44:01.550
Is there any anything you wanted to
add before we signed off this morning?

539
00:44:04.630 --> 00:44:07.989
No, I think you know.
That was those great conversation. Thank

540
00:44:07.989 --> 00:44:09.820
you, Brenna, for having me
on here. It was it was wonderful

541
00:44:09.980 --> 00:44:14.619
to be a part of this and
to be able to just talk lose for

542
00:44:14.659 --> 00:44:19.619
a little bit. It's been a
while and you know, thank you.

543
00:44:19.659 --> 00:44:22.619
Thank you again, and hopefully we
can we can have more of this and

544
00:44:22.739 --> 00:44:29.489
we can we can all get together
also to just talk about lose and life

545
00:44:29.530 --> 00:44:32.690
and the old times. Yeah,
definitely. Like I said, June eleven,

546
00:44:34.570 --> 00:44:38.000
bring your golf clubs out to like
classes all together. Awesome. Well,

547
00:44:38.039 --> 00:44:43.599
I thank you for giving the time
to record this podcast and I had

548
00:44:43.639 --> 00:44:46.039
a ton of fun. Yeah,
thank you so much. That was great.

549
00:44:46.039 --> 00:44:50.960
I had of last as well,
and good luck to all the athletes

550
00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:53.909
this week and I'm excited and it
would be it'll be fun to watch.

551
00:44:54.789 --> 00:44:59.269
Thanks again to Preston graffall for coming
on and chatting today. It was really

552
00:44:59.309 --> 00:45:02.030
great to catch up with him.
Like I mentioned to Preston, please Mark

553
00:45:02.070 --> 00:45:07.460
Your calendars for June eleven for the
US Loge Foundation Golf Tournament. All proceeds

554
00:45:07.539 --> 00:45:13.179
will go to the US Loge Foundation, which helps support and fund future generations

555
00:45:13.300 --> 00:45:16.579
of US loge athletes. Be on
the lookout for registration and FO posted on

556
00:45:16.659 --> 00:45:21.690
facebook, twitter and Instagram, as
well as at us a loge dotorg.

557
00:45:21.969 --> 00:45:25.289
Within the week. The junior national
team headed over to Europe earlier this week

558
00:45:25.570 --> 00:45:30.809
and has their first World Cup of
the New Year this weekend in Bluden's Austria.

559
00:45:30.650 --> 00:45:35.329
Sending the junior team, as well
as all of our athletes in Segulda,

560
00:45:35.449 --> 00:45:38.679
good luck and fast vibes. Thank
you for listening to blink, a

561
00:45:38.760 --> 00:45:43.920
podcast about what it takes to wint
a lose race in the blink of an

562
00:45:43.960 -->
eye.