The Olympic-style discipline involves racing over undulating terrain along a series of prepared tracks. Skiers set off at intervals and race against the clock rather than against each other, with the exception of the pursuit-style races. Barron said,
“Participating in the 15km race was a huge experience and a learning curve for me.
I set out with a game plan to ski steady to 10k and then try increase the pace over the final 5k and push for the finish. Since my last races before the games I have done a lot of distance work”
In his event on Monday he skied the first kilometre quite strong. Then a competitor from USA came past , “usually I hang on to skiers but when he came past and I tucked in behind him but he just skied away.
I felt I was skiing well but I didn’t have the speed I wanted. I skied the hills technically the way I wanted to but it was not fast enough.
The course was great. I really enjoyed skiing it and the atmosphere was amazing.
It wasn’t a tough day just confusing .I hit 10k and a coach roared at me this actually got my head into the game and suddenly I found power and started to pull back time on two skiers who had passed me . I finished really strong but felt that I could have skied another 15k and put in a better performance”
He was disappointed with his performance and finishing position, but
said “it was the most enjoyable race I have ever been in. I had amazing support from the crowd and the Irish team. The highlight for me was having my family out on the course supporting me during my olympic debut. So far the whole Olympic the experience has been amazing.
It has given me drive to push on for the rest of the current season and I have decided that I want to qualify for and race in the next Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014″.
No doubt Snowsport Ireland have a young athlete who they can work with over the next few years to improve his performance and world ranking and help him to achieve A standard qualification for the next Games in Sochi.
