The New York Times-20080126-A Battle of Mind Over Mishaps

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A Battle of Mind Over Mishaps

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In the moments before a snowboardcross race, Peter Foley, the United States snowboard coach, has found that sometimes the best way to help Lindsey Jacobellis is to distract her.

Hours before the 2006 Olympic final, a tearful Jacobellis told Foley that she wished the race were already over. Foley countered by showing her videos of the pop star Shakira on his computer. Jacobellis dominated that race until an infamous mishap near the finish.

As she waited in the start gate at a more recent race, Foley asked Jacobellis about her dog. So you got a new collar for Gidget for Christmas, huh? he recalled saying.

With Jacobellis scheduled to race in the women's snowboardcross at the Winter X Games on Saturday at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Foley may have to come up with some new conversation starters. The 22-year-old Jacobellis is the most accomplished woman in snowboardcross. She also has a history of anxiety before races.

With six racers on a downhill course at the same time, careering over tabletop jumps, through banked turns, and over rollers and gaps, a snowboardcross race is fraught with peril. Racers say that mental focus and preparation are as important as physical fitness.

There's a ton that's outside of your control, Foley said about race conditions. Sometimes you have bad luck, a collision or a fall. You don't always do something wrong, but things go wrong.

For Jacobellis, things have gone wrong on the sport's biggest stages, first at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, and then at the 2007 X Games. Both times she was leading the pack when she fell near the finish line and had to settle for silver medals.

The circumstances of the falls were different, however.

At the Turin Games, Jacobellis was favored to win in the Olympic debut of snowboardcross. She held a commanding lead in the final, but she celebrated early on the course's penultimate jump and pulled a stylish method air. On the landing, Jacobellis caught an edge and fell, allowing Tanja Frieden of Switzerland to pass her and win the gold medal.

Afterward, news media reports criticized Jacobellis for showboating. She said she was just trying to have fun and made it clear she was tired of repeated questions about her fall.

At the X Games, Jacobellis was again leading, but she lost control while soaring over the course's final jump. She caught her heel edge and cartwheeled over the finish line, moments after Joanie Anderson passed her to win the gold medal. News media reports pointed out the similarities to her Olympic wipeout, raising another round of unwanted questions.

Still, Jacobellis has had more success than disappointment. She won at the X Games from 2003 through 2005, and she has won the past three World Cup titles.

Lindsey really is a talented athlete, Anderson said. She is usually the one on top of the podium.

And when she has not won, Jacobellis has shown a remarkable ability to rebound from mishaps.

There's a huge mental side to snowboardcross, Jacobellis said. You have to be able to gain focus. Any bad runs you've had or mistakes you've made in the course, you have to be able to forget them.

I guess it's because I do have a strong mental side, and I just don't let those things bother me, because I know I'm a great racer.

Foley and Jacobellis's fellow competitors talk about how, despite her nerves before races, Jacobellis shows uncanny confidence when on the course.

She's super good about picking places to pass and being really aggressive about doing that, Foley said. A lot of girls will be in position but will be afraid to go for it, but she's got no second thought. She just lets it rip.

Anderson, who won the silver in snowboardcross at the 2006 X Games, said: Boardercross is so much of a head game. And I think she has that confidence that puts her ahead of a lot of girls because there are definitely many girls in boardercross that are more timid.

Anderson added: You really have to have that confidence in your head, that mind game. Other than that, she's just a really fast snowboarder.

Jacobellis excels at handling jumps by maintaining a lower trajectory and making softer landings, allowing her to keep her speed.

Foley and Jacobellis said that the courses at the X Games have tended to feature terrain that encourages crashes. In the past, long stretches of flat terrain between difficult sections have meant the riders are often in a pack when they encounter more challenging features, including jumps.

Jacobellis believes it is by design, to create drama during television broadcasts.

It really works to the advantage of TV and not riders, she said.

Whatever the course may bring, Jacobellis will not have to contend with Anderson, who was eliminated during qualifying Friday. But she will be facing Frieden in the final and Maelle Ricker, who won the bronze at the X Games last year.

Such a talented field, on a difficult course at one of the most significant events in snowboardcross, is enough to give a racer fits of nerves.

That is where Foley comes in.

If you're feeling really confident about your riding and what you're doing, it's so much easier, he said. The decisions are automatic a little bit. You choose the faster route always.

Whatever he says before the start Saturday, Foley knows any anxiety will melt away for Jacobellis once the race is under way.

When she snaps in, it's all business, he said. Then usually she is pretty happy at the bottom.

[Illustration]PHOTO: The snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis has won at the X Games from 2003 to 2005.(PHOTOGRAPH BY A.F.P./GETTY IMAGES)(pg. D1)