Liz Creighton ’24. Photo: Steve Hilts.
Elizabeth Creighton ’24 is the Canadian National Champion in the slalom discipline following her outstanding performance at Canadian Nationals at Red Mountain Resort. The performance earned her a personal best 23 FIS point result. She is also the U19 Champion in GS. The Mirror’s Lea Lambert ‘24 caught up with Creighton from British Columbia following the race to get Liz’s perspective.
“This is truly a dream come true. Coming back home with the Slalom National Champion title feels completely unreal. Skiing means everything to me. I learned to ski when I was two years old. I wanted to follow my older siblings, who were already skiers. I joined my first ski racing team when I was eight years old.
“When I left for this race series, I aimed to bring back the U19 title. Winning the overall was more than I ever expected. My mindset for these races was the same as my previous races, which was to keep it simple; when I am at the start gate before a race, I always tell myself, ‘Simple, simple, simple.’ When I focus on skiing and turn my head off, that’s when I perform the best. The day before I won the slalom title, I secured the U19 title in GS, which was surprising, as I had been struggling quite a bit in the past few weeks. That good day under my belt took some pressure off before the slalom. Skiing is such a hard sport because most of it is mental.
“The morning of the race, it was really warm, around 60 degrees, which not only made us overheat but made the surface quite soft. The race got delayed, but they still managed to give us a good surface with the help of salt. I was fortunate to start 5th in the first run, so the course wasn’t too rough yet. For the second run, I started 30th. I knew it would be a fight and that I would have to tackle the ruts and soft snow. I could feel the pressure, but being able to manage it and keeping the head in the right place is what separates good skiers from elite skiers. I kept my skiing as simple as possible. I didn’t try to change anything in my preparation and didn’t overthink the process: inspection, visualization, warm up, and go time. What really challenged me was that I almost went out of the course. I had to talk to myself, push as hard as possible, and put every bit of energy I had left in the last few gates. When I got to the bottom of the course, whatever the result was, I was proud because I fought.
“Last year, I didn’t get the results I expected because of some health issues and other difficulties. I didn’t perform like I wanted. I’ve put a lot of effort into the gym, with my mental preparation, a nutritionist, and another specialist who really made a big difference in my preparation. This title represents the culmination of the time and effort I’ve put into skiing in the past few years.
“This title, to me, means motivation to keep putting the work in and keep skiing as fast as possible because hard work does pay off.”
