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WATERSKI MagazineShe almost didn't show up. Helena Kjellander, winner of three straight women's world slalom titles (1991, 1993 and 1995), decided in early 1997 that she would bypass a chance at an unprecedented fourth consecutive slalom gold in Medellin, Colombia.
“I didn't have anything left to prove,” says Kjellander, who was ranked a modest fifth in the world in mid-1997. “Why taint what I'd already done by not skiing well?”
At the urging of the Swedish National Federation, Kjellander flew to South America a few months before the Worlds to take a look at the site. Standing lakeside, the fire was rekindled. She could literally feel herself winning another championship and decided to make it reality.
While enjoying only mild on-water success over the summer, Kjellander was at the same time programming her body and mind to win one event: the World Championships. Every day became so routine that by the time she entered the gates in the finals, Kjellander was just playing out a scenario she had repeated in her mind a hundred times. Here is Kjellander's account of her preparation for that moment:
“I ran the tournament in my mind every day for four months. I could literally feel the site in practice. I'd run back-to-backs with short setups and busy water to simulate the situation at altitude. Everything was routine, even breathing between sets. I'd imagine being second seeded out of prelims and that someone skied one at 38. Then I'd go out and run one more buoy.
“By the week of the tournament, I felt invincible. It's an amazing feeling to get yourself to where you have no regard for the competition. The biggest problem was people coming up and asking if I could do it a fourth time. I didn't want to hear any doubt, so at night I'd sit by myself by a fountain at the hotel compound and visualize my skiing.
“The morning of the finals had been scripted all summer. I got up real early, ate a bowl of Muslix and warmed up by swimming in the pool. My dad and I took a cab to the site, and I started stretching. The good thing about visualization is you don't have to remember every little thing. Your body just does what it's been working on all along. When I skied two at 38 to go ahead of Liz Lambert by one buoy, and Toni [Neville] fell around one, Mike [Kjellander, her brother] ran up and hugged me. Everything I envisioned along the way happened as God would have it. It's kind of spooky.”
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