META HROVAT

META VASTASI KYSYMYKSIIMME SÄHKÖPOSTILLA

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SKIING THE MOST?

When I'm skiing and I manage to get the perfect line and I can just feel that I’m increasing speed throughout every turn – then the whole world for me disappears. I love the feeling of being 100% present in the moment while I’m skiing and all I can think of is how I’ll go into the next turn as fast as possible.

Of course I like the community, all the friends that I’ve meet along the way, life experiences that I’m getting every day, places that I get to see, I’m grateful for all of that.

WHO ARE/WERE THE HEROES? WHY THESE SKIERS, WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES YOU ADMIRE IN THEM?

I have many, not just in skiing but in life in general. I have a deep respect for many skiers. As a kid I was admiring Ivica and Janica Kostelic and I still can’t believe what have they done with this little resources and how much hard work the whole family put into their careers.

THERE’S A LOT OF SKIERS WHO WANT TO MAKE IT TO THE WORLD CUP, BUT ONLY FEW ACHIEVE THAT GOAL. WHAT DID IT TAKE YOU TO MAKE IT TO THE FIS EC AND WC?

In my opinion it is really important to have people around that you trust 100%. If it doesn’t work out on a first try you have to keep on trying. My best quality is that I don’t give up easily.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF MENTAL TRAINING?

training in ski racing quite big. I know that I can be physically in best shape of my life, but if my mental state is not in a right place I can forget about good result. I’ve been working with several mental coaches in my career, but in the end I realized that the most important part for my mental clarity is the trust inside of my team. I have to be 100% sure in the work that we have put in during summer months.

WHAT ARE THE SMALL THINGS THAT HAVE TAKEN YOU TO THE TOP?

I wish I could tell you all the little secrets for success, but I don’t really know. I try to focus on details which sometimes seem unimportant. Most important of all I would say is the determination to work hard, but still find the joy in everyday training routine, which is not easy sometimes, I tell you.

HOW DO YOU FEEL AT START?

It depends, sometimes I’m really nervous, especially at the beginning of the season. I like to look at the mountains when I’m in the start gate, because against the mountains human creatures are small and powerless. When looking at the mighty mountains around me, I feel that ski racing is just a game we play, not really important for our existence and that’s right, skiing is just a game. I like to take it that way.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?

Coffee counts as food?! Peanut butter and pumpkin soup.

BEST TRAINING SLOPE?

San Vigilio Kronplatz, Kranjska Gora and Ladurns. DAILY ROUTINE, TRAINING, SLEEP…

I consider myself a person who is defenitly not good at keeping routines. I love that every day is different and interesting.

But of course ski racing demands a certain amount of routine in a daily life, but it's changing a lot during different parts of the year.

In the summer months when I'm at home I usually have two trainings a day, each of them is normally 2 hours long. I try to put as many different sports in my summer training as possible. I like to start my summer mornings with a short wake up run as I call it, then I have breakfast which is always the same – oats, protein powder, frozen blueberries and a lot of peanut butter of course! I would usually start my first training at 8 am and second training at around 4pm. I usually like to go to bed early but sometimes when I'm at home I like to spend time with my friends and go to bed a bit later than I should.

When we are on ski camps everything is different, we wake up very early, warm up in the hotel room, breakfast, skiing, bike after skiing, lunch, rest, dryland training, snack, physiotherapy, video analysis, dinner, sleep and repeat every day pretty much the same.

For me it is really important to find time in my busy schedule for things that I like to do and activities that fill my soul – even if they are not optimal for my ski performance, I need to feel that I'm happy on the inside.