As the excitement builds towards next week’s 2020 Raymond James Nor-Am Cup AOA caught up with Georgian Peaks/CAST racer Ali
LIENZ,AUSTRIA,28.DEC.19 – ALPINE SKIING – FIS World Cup, giant slalom, ladies. Image shows Ali Nullmeyer (CAN). Photo: GEPA pictures/ Daniel Goetzhaber
Nullmeyer. Ali, along with Erin Mielzynski, Roni Remme, Candace Crawford, Amelia Smart and Laurence St-Germain will be in the gates next week.
Q: How does it feel to come 16th in a World Cup?!! (Congratulations!)..Ali placed 16th in the recent Flachau, AUT Slalom.
A: It felt awesome to get my first World Cup points! I had a challenging couple of weeks, just barely missing the second run for a few races in a row, so it was really cool to throw it in there. Flachau was such a cool race with a lot of fans so to do it there was an added bonus!
Q: How have you overcome serious injury?
A: I injured myself in 2017 right before the start of the World Cup season. I tore my ACL and meniscus in both my knees in Soelden, Austria while training for the World Cup opener. It has taken a lot of hard work and time to get back to where I was skiing before my injury. There have been so many people involved in my recovery who I couldn’t have done it without. Between the physical injury and mental struggles of coming back from it, I have to thank my family, friends, coaches, doctors, physios, etc. for sticking with me and helping me continue to pursue my dream of competing at the World Cup level.
Q: Do you rely on your teammates for anything specific?
A: I rely on my teammates to take my mind off of skiing. We are all working so hard and are so focused on skiing that it’s important we take time to do other activities. It is always fun playing games or exploring with my teammates.
Q: What on-snow drills do you practice all the time?
A: I have a couple of drills that I do every day. One is just traversing across the hill, rolling my knees and ankle slowing two or three times before changing direction and doing it back the other way. Other than that, they change depending on what I am working on throughout the season.
Q: What are some of your critical habits for success?
A: Although it can be really challenging some days, I think it’s important to look at every day as a positive learning experience. Even if you didn’t ski well or as fast as you wanted, there are always things to take away from every day of training. I think this has helped me a lot over the years and especially through my rehab.
Q: How much do you focus on your fitness and dryland?
A: I’ve always focused a lot on my dryland however I have been much more in tune with it since my injury. Making sure that you are strong enough is crucial in our sport and maintaining this strength throughout the season is really important as well.
Q: You have always been known to hold a clean edge and carry speed like nobody else. How did you obtain this superpower?
A: I guess just years of practice! I think it’s something I’ve always had and I’ve been able to build off of it over the years.
Q: Did you ever ski downhill on cross country skis?
A: I skied on telemark skis down Champlain one time when I was younger. It was not very pretty…
Q: What’s your favourite GP moment?
A: I loved training on Riot as a little kid. You could get so many runs in and it was always so fun!
Please join us as we cheer on Ali next week during the Raymond James Nor-Am Cup. Full details and schedule here>