JACK Gower’s dad Richard had no idea what he let himself in for when his son called him at the start of the 2020-2021 ski season to ask for some help.
Covid had made life difficult on the international circuit where teams were tightly constrained to their own bubble and Jack’s arrangement to join a training group had suddenly fallen through.
International skiers need daily video analysis, courses set-up, ski maintenance and logistical aid so a second pair of eyes and hands are not just a help, they are a necessity.
“I asked him to come out just to help me one weekend but it ended up being a whole year. My poor father ended up travelling the world with me after turning up originally with one pair of boxers and two t-shirts!
“Still, looking back I’m pretty happy that I got that time with him,” he reflects.
Gower (27), who switched from GB to represent Ireland last summer, won the world junior title at giant slalom when he was only 16.
But the past few seasons have been challenging, not least because so many restrictions on travel and mixing left it hard to find good training locations and partners.
Representing Ireland has provided him the free agency to find a new coach and training group ahead of Olympic qualification for Beijing (February 4-20) and he is delighted with his new set-up.
He has been reunited with his former coach, Canadian Christian Hillier who helped him win that World Junior title in Crans Montana a decade ago.
“Christian coached me between the ages of 14 to 19, we had quite a lot of success together before we amicably parted ways.
“He’s a very successful coach and has taken a huge pay-cut to work with me this year so I’m very grateful to him. He’s been incredibly generous, especially as he has a partner and one-year-old baby who stay in the apartment in Zell Am Zee (Austria) that we’ve rented.
“We are training with the Swiss Ski Team (second tier) and being able to do that is one of the brilliant things about being Irish. They’re one of the best in the world and because I have decent world rankings myself and my Christian joined them and we’re currently training in Davos.”
Home is Chichester, on England’s south coast but Gower’s late grandmother (her maiden name was Swayne) was born in Dublin and raised in Skibbereen where she met his grandfather.
“He was visiting Cork with the British Navy and when they married they got posted to Chile. That’s where my dad was born but he and all my uncles and aunts spent their summers in Skibbereen.”
His sporty family includes David Gower, the legendary British cricket player and commentator. “He’s my dad’s first cousin but we’ve always called him ‘Uncle David.’”
Gower competes in skiing’s speed disciplines and is best at Super-G (super giant slalom).
“In Super-G we’re going 120km an hour, downhill is more like 150km. There’s big jumps in downhill and more turns in Super-G. I love downhill but it’s much more like Formula One in that it’s a lot about technical aspects of the boots and skis.
“I came from giant slalom which is more technical skiing so it was a natural transition into Super-G where I’ve had most success.”
He has been ranked as high as 38th in the world Super-G rankings and has won prestigious titles like the US Nationals and the 2017 South American Cup which he likens to the equivalent of Formula Two “because all the top World Cup skiers use it for pre-season training.”
It’s a physically demanding sport that involves months of off-piste training and testing before getting back on the slopes in Europe every November and his first big races this season are in Val Gardena (Italy) in early December.
But it’s a high-risk sport where injuries can interrupt progress.
At the start of the 2019 season he broke his leg and dislocated his hip training on a glacier in Austria.
Over his career he has broken both collarbones, dislocated his right shoulder twice, suffered three leg breaks and had ligament damage to both knees, as well as one serious concussion.
“But I love the freedom of going fast, I love competing and we do it in incredibly beautiful places all around the world. I also love thinking about how I can improve. It’s a lot of fun.”
By Cliona Foley
