In his third season in the unlimited S1 category, Jan Farrell will be chasing a podium on the Speed Skiing World Cup circuit after establishing himself as one of the fastest racers on the planet.
The Lancaster born skier has now fully recovered from his crash at 216.58kph that happened during the 2016 World Cup event in Vars, France. Now, Jan aims to better his record 5th place in Sun Peaks, a particularly technical track that tends to benefit him.
Farrell comments: “I gained a lot of experience last season, learning a lot about the S1 category and about myself as a skier – a high speed crash is a traumatic experience and you have to go back to the basics after that, it’s not easy! I’m confident it will strengthen me as an athlete and help me achieve better results; it’s just incredible how psychological this sport is and how important fear management is”.
During the 2016 season, Jan finished in overall 6th position despite a heavy crash at 216.56kph in Vars in the middle of the racing calendar, which set him back with lukewarm results during the last four races. This will be Jan’s third season in the unlimited S1 category, after winning the overall FIS Speed Ski World Cup in the Downhill equipment category.
The World Cup Speed Skiing event takes place in Sun Peaks, Canada from March 5th, 2017 to March 8th, 2017 > Website link
About Jan Farrell
Farrell has had an extremely intense off-season combining on-snow training with specific gym work with the objective of approaching the World Record of 254.958kph held by Ivan Origone. Since Jan started to race in the maximum category, he has consistently finished inside the top-10 and he is now ready to fight for a podium place.
New coach and a European attitude
Jan has a new secret weapon this year; his long ago rival Ski Cross athlete Diego Schmalzl, now one of the top Italian coaches. Together they are deconstructing Speed Skiing and going back to the basics, improving every technical and physical aspect of Jan’s performance. Their experience in Ski Cross is proving particularly valuable.
“I arrive at the 1st of our World Cups with a lot of homework done” states Farrell. “I’ve spent countless hours in the gym working on my power, explosiveness and balance. The Exentrix by SmartCoach machine you can see in the video available (via link below, or by request) has been particularly important, allowing me to monitor and graduate each phase of my workout. I can separate the concentric and eccentric phases of each exercise, both their power, timing and speed. I can even add perturbations and vibrations to simulate skiing on irregular terrain.
Jan has chosen to put the European flag on my helmet this year: “I don’t want it to be a political message, I’m proud to represent Great Britain and the Union Flag. I was born in Lancaster in 1983 when the UK was part of Europe, and I feel identified by the whole continent. My mother is from the Czech Republic and I’ve lived a long time in Spain; I feel at home anywhere in Europe, I feel European, not only British”.
Categories: Racing