The Julia Murry Story
Longtime ski racing friend and Whistler native Julia Murry shares her story about her trails and tribulations about attending the Olympics this season as a member on the Canadian Skier Cross team.
I was going into my hometown Olympics with everything lined up perfectly to achieve my dream of grabbing that gold medal. 4 races out of the 5 I did before the Games I made it to the finals. Two of those finals, I ended up on the podium. I was confident in myself and was having fun. Until Lake Placid, the last World Cup before the Olympics, where my dream was on the verge of being crushed…The course in Lake Placid was the closest course we have had to a motocross inspired ski cross course yet. There were rollers galore. It was exciting to ride the chair over top of the fun course looking at the different options through out the track.
We were the second training group so we got to spy on the first group of our fellow ski crossers. All of the girls were absorbing these 4 big rollers in a row. It didn’t look fast.
The first training run I just felt it out and did the same. The third run Kelsey and I were confident we could double those big rollers just like the guys were doing. I went first and doubled the 2 rollers easily, but wasn’t ready for the one after. Instead of absorbing the roller following, I was a bit back on my heals and shot off of it landing on the take off of the next step up feature with my butt on my bindings. My left ski caught a bit of an edge and I landed on the other side of the jump with adrenaline pumping through my body. I hobbled off to the side of the course and watched the roller section that did me in for the rest of the training.
We figured since I couldn’t click into my skis without two people helping me push down, that I should go get an MRI to see what damage I had done.What a bad time for my first injury ever.
The doctor came in and said he had “mixed information” for me. I had torn most of my ACL, partially torn my MCL, had a complex tear in my Medial Meniscus, and a bad bone bruise in my Tibia. When asked what my chances were for competing in the games he told us 60%.
No problem. One month until the big race.
I spent the time in Lake Placid, while the rest of the team was racing, crutching around, icing constantly and going to my physio (Chris Napier) twice a day. In between all of that I was doing a lot of repetitions of tedious exercises.
On the way to Aspen we made a stop in Vail for a doctor’s second opinion. He caught something in the MRI that the others didn’t see. I also had what is called a bucket-handle tear in my Lateral Meniscus. My Meniscus was torn horizontally and folded on top of itself! This made things much worse and explained why I couldn’t get pass 100 degrees while bending my knee in physio. He told me it was very risky to race in the Games and recommended against trying anymore.
The drive to Aspen was not the greatest road trip after that news. But I decided I would continue with what my physio and I were doing. Physio twice a day with tedious exercises, a lot of icing and being a part of a cheering squad for my team mates.
One more doctor appointment with the Olympic doc in Vancouver as soon as I got home pushed me in the direction of Arthroscopic Surgery to clip out my bucket handle tear in my Meniscus if it wasn’t repairable. The catch was, if my Meniscus was repairable they would go ahead and re-construct everything in my knee, which would leave me immobile for sometime after and unable to race. It was the first time I’ve hoped for something in my body to be irrepairable.
I came out of the surgery with a little less Meniscus and a whole lot more range of motion.
To get me to the Olympic debut of ski cross consisted of some tough decisions, 100 hours of physio, plenty of gym sessions and many nights sleeping with my ice machine.
After a painful month of doing absolutely all I could to make it to the start gate on Cypress I was there. I had achieved my goal of making it to my hometown Olympic Winter Games!
The first training day was a day to feel out the amazing course that Jeff Ihaksi built. There are so many great jumps and flowing roller sections. Training day two was spent taking a more aggressive approach and getting back into the flow of skiing like myself. It felt so good to be on a ski cross course again! I did have a few flat landings that jarred my knee and sent quite a bit of pain through my body. But it only lasted a few minutes, then I could get back at it.
To see the crowd at the boys race sent chills through my body. Everyone loved the show and thought ski cross was the most exiting sport in the Olympics. It was good to know what to expect for our race day. The atmosphere was exuberant.
One more training day to nail the start, then came race day. First thing in the morning I saw my amazing friends and family with Julia signs cheering me on as I walked to the chair. I loved seeing them there to support me no matter what happened. My qualifying run felt very smooth, but it wasn’t very fast. I was used to qualifying top 4, so 14th place was a bit of a disappointment for me. But I knew the start was pretty fair, so lane choice wasn’t what would determine the winners.
The atmosphere at the start gate was different in the Olympics than in any other race. We could hear the crowd in the distance cheering for us, yet it was unusually quiet up in the start. It was eery. There was a ton of energy pumping through my veins that I needed to hold in to use for my start and the course. Deep breaths and leg swings until they called my name.
My first heat was going well. I got out of the gate in second place and stayed there. I had a bit of a painful mis-hap though. Off of a big jump in the middle of the course I got kicked back and landed with my butt on my bindings! This is exactly what I was happy to have avoided all of those training days. In physio, I still wasn’t able to bend my knee all the way, but this landing forced it to bend 100%. Ouch! The adrenaline I had from the crowd and the race kept me going and I finished the course using mostly my right leg, as my left one felt very noodley.
The second heat was a battle to say the least. I had a horrible start that put me in third. I had to make a pass somewhere. I caught up to the two ahead of me and tried to be patient and wait for the right time to make my move. I decided to go for it before a big double into a step-down feature. I got back onto my heals again and flew off of the double and managed to land the step-down. Fanny Smith, beside me was battling to stay on her feet as well. At one point I looked beside me and her skis were level with my head. I thought she was going down. She snuck back in front of me. I then tried to absorb a double and lost all of my speed. I had no chance of moving on.
I had to be happy with 12th place in the Olympics… That is a hard thing to be completely satisfied about. But I was incredibly fortunate to even be there with what I had to go through the month prior to the Games. I worked as hard as I could to be back to my normal self for the big show. These Olympics were what pushed Canada to develop a ski cross team 3 years ago. These Olympics changed my life to what it has been for the past 3 years. It would have been amazing to end off this 3 year stint with a podium finish, but I know that I was close to being there. It was an unforgettable experience to be a part of. I can now have the title: “2nd generation Olympian”.
