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Junior Worlds was in Buenos Aires, Argentina this year. I was very excited for my first trip down to South America and not to mention some warmer weather! My team mates and I safely made it to the hotel without any travel issues and got settled in. The hotel was right in the city with lots going on and good shopping near by. The second day we were there we went out the facilities and did a little bit of training and preparation for the semi-finals the next day. The competition was on a military base which was huge and very nice. The pool was 33.3 meters which was a first for me and a little bit different. I had never seen that length before but was glad I got to practice in it before the competition. Our first night in Argentina we got to try some Argentinean steak and it was delicious! We also got to walk along some of the streets downtown. They were filled with people and very busy.
The semifinals competition went very well. I had a good fence and a mediocre swim, the pool was really murky and I could hardly see the walls. After the two events I was in 13th and the top 18 made finals so I was able to run somewhat easy to stay in the top and make finals!
At the finals competition, my fencing started out really well but I wasn’t able to stay consistent with the hot gym and my ankle being sore from spraining it about a month ago. My swim went much better and I swam much closer to my best time. In the riding I got a small, young horse; she was a good little jumper but needed a lot of leg and direction. I had time faults and one rail but I was still able to move up a few places. In the combined I wasn’t shooting great but still ran well considering I was still dealing with a lot of ankle pain. I was able to finish in a respectable 28th place.
Unfortunately none of the men made finals but that allowed us to go out as a team and be tourists for a day. Since we were in the city we got to go to the Casa de Rosa and do lots of shopping from all the street vendors. I was amazed at how busy it was and all the different little things that people were making and selling. I also got to practice some of my spanish to try and bargain with some of the vendors to buy souvenirs.
On the last day of competition, Margaux and I competed in the Women’s relay, Lucas and Nathan Schrimsher competed in the men’s relay, and Rosalie Purvis and Harry Greene competed in the mixed relay. Margaux and I had a blast in the relay and had a pretty good swim and fence. We got a good horse for the riding but the optimum time was very difficult and we had a few time faults. We were 6th going into the combined and ended up in 4th place closely behind the 3rd place team. It was hard coming in so close to being in the top three but it was still a good competition and we had a good time competing together.
The trip back home went smoothly and I arrived the day before Thanksgiving. It was great to come home and spend some time with family, but I was shortly back to Colorado Springs to continue training and getting ready for the U.S. qualifier competition in December.
