December 23, 2009 (Oberhof, GER) – The first period of World Cup racing has come to an end and I could not be happier with the result. Taking over the Yellow Bib in the last race really was a dream come true for me. I am honored to be the first American to reach the top of the World Cup rankings. I am also extremely thankful to all of the people who have helped me get this point. This truly was a team effort and I can’t emphasize enough what an important role the entire team has played.

I am now in Oberhof, Germany enjoying a little down time for the holidays. I decided to stay in Europe over Christmas this year in order to minimize my travel time. By doing this I gain both recovery and training time, which will hopefully pay off when the World Cup continues in Oberhof, and for the 2010 Games later this season.

After taking a few days to completely recover, I am now back to my normal training routine. Oberhof received a nice Christmas present in the form of a snowstorm, so conditions here are quite ideal for training. I still have some improvements that I want to make before the Olympics so this is definitely not a time for me to rest on my early season success. Of course I’m still able to enjoy some holiday season cheer and I have been happy to test out every German Christmas cookie that I can find!

Happy Holidays!