Tristan Walker will have some Cochrane company at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games next month in Sochi, Russia.
But he won’t be sharing a table at the Team Canada buffet.
Cochrane resident Murray Cluff will, instead, be with Team China coaching freestyle moguls skier Ning Qin, who has qualified for the Games due to her effort on the Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) World Cup tour this season.
Cluff, a former Canadian World Cup freestyle skier and personal coach of 2010 Canadian Olympic moguls gold-medallist Jenn Heil, has been working with Team China freestyle moguls skiers since 2012, grooming them for a possible Olympic appearance this year. His work paid off as he’ll be in Sochi guiding the lone Team China moguls qualifier through that nation’s first Olympic appearance in the discipline. The top Chinese moguls skier this year, Ning is 34th in FIS World Cup standings, but drew into the Top 30 qualifiers for the 2014 Winter Olympics after the top moguls nations trimmed their teams to the maximum of four skiers.
After arriving home Jan. 20 from a World Cup event outside Montreal, Cluff was packing his bags for a Jan. 23 flight to Beijing, where he’ll make final preparations alongside his skier before winging into Sochi on Jan. 30. Games opening ceremonies are Feb. 7. Freestyle moguls qualifying is actually slated for Feb. 6.
“I’m home here for three days just for a mini-break, get another Chinese entry visa, do some laundry,” Cluff cracked. “Then we go to China for one week and spend some time at the Beijing Sports University.”
Time with his 22-year-old athlete in Beijing will be spent in the gym, on the trampoline and working on her speed and strength. They have been skiing pretty much non-stop since November.
“That was something I had to tell the powers that be,” he related. “You guys have to understand, rest is just as important as competing at this level. At this point, any more days of training – we’re not going to improve. I’m just trying to hold this peak now. What we actually risk now in the next week is injury.
“I’m not going to make any more improvements to her skill level. Those have all been done. Now I just have to try and hold this and get her in a mental state so she can lay it down in Sochi.”
The freestyle moguls event combines swift turns over steep, bumpy terrain with two jumps for aerial stunts. Skiers are scored for their precision turns, their aerials and their speed down the course. Cluff has been focussing on Ning’s technical strengths. She can do a full twisting back flip, fully laid out, as one of her aerial tricks.
The speed will come.
“They (Chinese) have high expectations,” Cluff said. “When we were meeting in 2012, they wanted to win in Sochi. I said that’s not possible.
“My goal is a top-20. I’m very hopeful we can get top-20.”
But, adds Cluff, an Olympic medal for Ning in Korea in 2018 is not out of the question.
