Joys and challenges of the preparation period
The NIVELCO Racing Team is eagerly awaiting the start of the snowy season after a successful summer preparation.
Training, like every year, began with seemingly endless ground workouts this spring. Long hours on the bike or lonely runs in the woods – all the basis for a successful season later on. Even the most cleverly built house will not stand without perfectly solid foundations.
As usual, snowy training this year started at the Austrian glaciers and continued at a new location for the team, between the 3,600-meter peaks of Les 2 Alpes (Les Deux Alpes) in France. At this stage, the main emphasis was on selecting and testing new equipment. Noa Szőllős has now switched to the skis that fit the rules of the adult FIS competition, while the boys have begun to try out several brands for the 2019/2020 season.
The decision has finally been made and Salomon skis and ski boots were chosen; thus, all three of our racers have now become members of the Atomic – Salomon racing team.
No matter how hot the summer is, NIVELCO racers will always find the opportunity to ski! In addition to special strength and coordination training, more emphasis was placed on water skiing and wakeboarding this year, compared to the previous ones. In the past few years, many wakeboard parks have been opened in the Budapest region, where you can practice ski-like movements even at 35 degrees Celsius. Jumping up to 10 meters and sliding on various objects improve the sense of balance, and test your courage, which is essential for ski racing.
Another great opportunity for practice and training came when, in the second half of the summer, the team had the chance to buy their own sports boat, which means that our competitors can now enjoy skiing even on the Danube that splits Budapest. Life is always exciting with three athletic children and every season comes with some extraordinary events that require extra attention and preparation from the team.
This year, both boys have already moved on from junior to adult category so they have a slightly more relaxed preparation period ahead of them. As for Noa, however, this will be her first year as a junior (FIS), which will certainly be a big challenge for her.
It is never easy for adolescent athletes to move to the international junior/adult age range, because while only two age-groups compete in the children’s category, there are no age categories for adults anymore, so the newly arrived youngster have to compete with experienced racers who are 10 to 15 years older.
In addition, this year will be a particularly difficult and exciting year for Noa, as the YOG 2020 (Youth Olympic Games) will be held in early January in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the 2002–2003 age group can compete against each other. Noa, born in 2003, represents the younger age class who have a significant disadvantage compared to those a year older, who were already able to score points last season. Noa, therefore, does not have much time to catch up with the older ones but immediately has to jump into the deep water! In the previous Youth Olympics, Barnabas has set the standards very high as he achieved historic success in slalom by finishing seventh in a fantastic race.
Noa Szőllős
It was a tough start into my first FIS season, I had troubles getting used to the longer skis but with the help of my new coach, I was able to make a but the lack of speed training possibilities and the insufficent cooperations with other teams made this a lot easier. Another important step in transitioning from speed to technical was changing materials. After five years of skiing with Head, my new Salomon skis really surprised me and I’m very happy with the decision we made. I’m looking forward to the first races, seeing how I stand against my brother and all the other racers. The main goal of the season is to find my way back into slalom and to keep my good points in speed. lot of progress fairly quickly. Summer training was hard but worth it, already showing results in Les 2 Alpes, France where I was much stronger not just physically but also mentally compared to last year’s preparation in Saas-Fee. Concerning my gear, I’m also very happy with Atomic, not just the skis and ski boots but also the team working there.
Benjamin Szőllős
After finding a new ski team for myself in January, I decided that I will fully commit myself to this team. It gives me extra pleasure that my brother decided to take this path together with me. I can’t give a statement about my skiing yet, because we are working on building up a new technique. But physically I reached my goals in the summer period, which gives me big confidence. I also decided to change to a new ski supplier this season, however, this is considered as a big risk in alpine skiing, because the material is a very important factor. Until now I feel very confident on the new skis. The first races will show if it was a good decision to change the material.
Barnabás Szőllős
After two years of speed racing alone (without a team), I decided to join my brother and his new team, the Kronplatz Racing Center in Italy. It was not an easy decision switching to the technical disciplines season. Noa, therefore, does not have much time to catch up with the older ones but immediately has to jump into the deep water! In the previous Youth Olympics, Barnabas has set the standards very high as he achieved historic success in slalom by finishing seventh in a fantastic race. Noa Szőllős It was a tough start into my first FIS season, I had troubles getting used to the longer skis but with the help of my new coach, I was able to make a but the lack of speed training possibilities and the insufficent cooperations with other teams made this a lot easier. Another important step in transitioning from speed to technical was changing materials. After five years of skiing with Head, my new Salomon skis really surprised me and I’m very happy with the decision we made. I’m looking forward to the first races, seeing how I stand against my brother and all the other racers. The main goal of the season is to find my way back into slalom and to keep my good points in speed.