In between races, we met with the adventurous Ellie Koyander, a young moguls prodigy, to find out how the real champions prepare for a ski session…
Ellie, thank you so much for welcoming us into your world and taking the time to answer our questions… Here at Ski in Luxury we are great fans of your work! At the age of 23 you have already achieved so much, what are your expectations / aspirations for this up-coming season?
I have shaken everything up for the new 4 year cycle towards the next Winter Olympics in Pyeong Chang in 2018. I have wanted to work with my new coach Murray Cluff since 2006 when he coached Jennifer Heil to Olympic Gold at the Torino Games. Long-term contracts with other national ski teams kept him out of reach until March earlier this year where everything just clicked into place and we have been planning together ever since!
How do you find it working with Murray Cluff?
Working with Murray has enabled me to rebuild my skiing package from the ground up working in Chile, Canada, USA, France and Finland over the Spring, Summer and Autumn. We have worked so hard on many technical aspects of both my skiing and jumping- it’s been awesome! Now with about a week until the first World Cup of the year and with it also being a World Championship Season I’m feeling confident and ready to go for it. I can’t wait to get into the start gate and that’s a great place to be so watch this space!
Being the busy athlete that you are, your fitness levels must be at a peak by December, how do you prepare?
I currently have a very specific fitness programme working with Strength coaches Ben Fitches and Mikey Bellamy at CrossTrain Fitness in Cambridge. It’s an all year round commitment building slowly at the right time and bringing everything together perfectly for the season to begin. Ben has really helped me to dial into the movements and skills specific to moguls skiing to ensure that when I am in that start gate I am as prepared and as ready to go as I possibly can be. I have also enjoyed smashing my own personal best targets each and every time we have done re-testing! I am feeling the strongest and most prepared that I have ever felt coming into any season.
Wow, that sounds pretty hardcore… What is your favourite fitness drill to get your body ready for skiing?
The toughest challenge is staying fit during the competition phase of the year. On the World Cup circuit we travel almost weekly to a new country with a new time zone and jet lag can take its toll flying from Canada to France, then to Japan and so on. Ironically during the competition season we ski less than at any other time of the year with maybe an hour or two (maximum) training being permitted each day on the competition course. I have a ‘maintenance’ programme which I follow during the ski season which keeps me in good shape as well as making sure that I am as powerful and agile as I can be. To get ready for skiing I wake the whole body up and my favourite drill is a combination of fast feet movements to get all my nerve endings firing right before I head out onto the slopes.
I work on the water-ramps perfecting my aerial skills in the summer time along with trampolining. I also have a couple of slack lines rigged up in my garden and have taken part in some unusual cross training to keep things fun and challenging such as working on a trapeze, free running, diving and the Brazilian martial art- Capoeira!
Seems like you master a lot of skills, do you follow a special diet?
Yes, I need good quality food and at the right time. Travelling around the world into different time zones can take its toll and I am very switched on to eating well on tour to stay as healthy and fit as I can be. I follow a healthy balanced diet and eat a lot of protein which helps to rebuild muscle tissue after a tough training session be it on the hill or after a strenuous work out.
A lot of athletes have to go through training like you but almost all athletes at least once in their career will suffer from injury, it is inevitable…. How do you recover from a fall or injury?
Moguls skiing is an extreme sport and that usually means some spectacular crashes! As freestyle skiers we are trying to ski as fast as possible over the most difficult terrain and pull two tricks in the middle such as a back flip or number of rotations. When I fall I immediately self evaluate to learn from any mistakes and I think that this is a very important skill to have.
If I fall it is usually because I am learning something new or pushing myself to jump higher or ski faster and so I recognise a fall as my skills developing to learn how to best cope if that situation was to happen again and that I am challenging myself to be better.
Ellie Koyander GBR No.1 Freestyle Moguls Skier and Olympian in action!….
Wise words…. Here at Ski in Luxury, our clients have various levels and we often hear that the novice skier is a little scared of black runs and a lot of amateur skiers seem to be scared of moguls walls, What are your tips to get over those apprehensions?
Some people may find the idea of skiing down moguls a little intimidating at first but once you get the hang of them you’ll hopefully love the challenge just like I did the first time I tried them! My advice would be to tackle a few at a time rather than trying to blast from the top to the bottom first time. Try to relax and allow your legs to absorb rather than having stiff legs which slide into the bump.
I have seen the skid, pivot, skid taught as an ‘advanced technique’ but in reality it’s the equivalent of teaching someone to snowplough around a set of GS gates – inefficient and on a skidding platform underfoot. The true moguls turn is unique to moguls and nothing like any other turn in skiing – it has to be learnt. There’s some amazing work going on in the UK especially by the BSS (British Ski and Snowboard) Moguls Team Manager Chris David working at Chill Factor where there was the first ever FIS European Indoor Moguls Championships earlier in the Summer.
Chris and his team give excellent coaching and there is also my old training ground at Castleford where they also push bumps and offer great coaching. That would be my best advice – learn some moguls technique from someone experienced and who knows what they are talking about.
What is your general word for the amateur skiers out there?
Make sure to enjoy what you are doing and keep it fun, this way you’ll provide the easiest learning environment for yourself and make huge improvements quickly. Always take something positive away from the day with you and as long as you give it your best effort you should be happy!
Travelling around the world you must have been to the most advanced ski runs in the world and probably the most extremes too but what are your favourite resort?
I really enjoy training in Tignes in France and also competing at Deer Valley in America. Nothing beats the spectacular views of the Alps in Tignes and I just love how welcoming and friendly everyone is at Deer Valley for the World Cup every year and it also has the biggest crowds too!
You seem to have been really good this year, So what did you ask Santa for this year?
I still haven’t got round to it so I have been asking my parents to frame my Olympic bib and Team GB memorabilia – that would be awesome! As long as I get some quality time with my family before I head out to the rest of the World Cups I’ll be happy! 😉
You can follow Ellie Koyander’s success this season on twitter @elliekoyander
