Much has been going on with me since the last time I blogged.   I have moved to a new country,started in a new school and got to know a lot of new people.

In august I started at Dønski Videregåendeskole in Bærum, Norway.  This is an ordinary high school thatthen has a special skiing line, which is called Dønski Alpin.  Dønski Alpin consist of about 75 skiracers that are divided into 6 groups where each group has its own coach.   Dønski Alpin has establisheditself in Norway to be the leading ski gymnasium in Norway and delivering topathletes such as Leif Kristian Haugen, Espen Lysdahl and Lotte Sejersted.

Starting here is very exiting for me.

I have had three training camps in Norway so far this summer/fall.  They have all been on the Juvassglacier that lies near to the highest mountain in Norway, Galdhøpiggen (2469m).

The plan was to go there again yesterday, but unfortunately they decidedto close the ski area due to slippery ice.   Instead of that I will be training on the Stubaiertalglacier in Austria from next Sunday.

I look very much forward to this season and I am very positive about myskiing.  I have had a big progresson my technique this summer.

The first race will be in Geilo, Norway, in November and then again inGeilo in December.

I will keep you updated on other things with me until then! 

 Galdhøpiggen ski area (Juvass)

 – J.B

As many of you know, I was racing in Whistler, Canada this weekend at the Whistler Cup.

Whistler Cup is the only children FIS race in North America.  In my category, many of the strongest racers from over the world where participating.

In the super-g on Friday I was skiing perfectly, until I did a big mistake just before an extremely flat part.  I ended up 2,5 seconds from the winner and that gave me a disappointing result of 11^th place.

In the slalom I skied very well, I was leading after the first run.  I skied even better in the second run (like I always do under pressure) and got the gold medal.  The first ever victory for an Icelandic ski racer on an international children FIS-race.   And the only thing I have to say about that is, finally!  I have been working with that goal for the winter and I managed it.

In the giant slalom I was second after the first run.  Only 40/100 off the lead so still a good chance of winning.  I skied very well in the second run but it wasn’t enough to steal the win.  I finished 31/100 behind Miha Hrobat from Slovenia.

In the next few days I will post some videos and photos from Whistler, including an interview with Shaw cable systems that are broadcasting a show about the Whistler cup, also a video of me at the award ceremony with the national anthem of Iceland. 

Next stop for me is Tärnaby in Sweden.  I will be racing there next weekend.

Keep in touch and don’t be afraid to comment,

-Jakob Helgi

I was racing at the La Scara race in Val D' Isére.

Yesterday there was slalom and today there was Super giant slalom.

In the slalom I was not skiing good, first run disappointing 5th place, in the second run I was skiing much better but before a flat part in the middle of the course.  I did'nt get much speed into the flat and lost a lot of time.  I finished in 10th place.  

 Today in Super - G  I was skiing very good but these races were clearly not ment to be for me.  In a blind gate in the middle of the course I did a mistake and lost lot of time.  I finished in 9th place only 1 second behind the winner.

I am very dissapointed with this result although it is good to be in top 10 in 2 races with over 125 competitors.  

Now I have 2 children FIS races left this winter:  Whistler cup and Ingermar Stenmark trophy in Sweden.   I will certainly do my best there.

I will keep you informed and give you the results as soon as possible.

Jakob Helgi 

But unfortunately I skied very well in the giant slalom the first day and won.  That victory made it clear that I won the overall cup in the 13-14 years category, even though there was one race left. 

With the overall cup in my hands I still wanted to win the slalom and become the Icelandic junior champ.  I skied very well and won with a pretty good lead.

So, for last weekend I got 4 trophies: 

                        Icelandic junior champ in slalom

                        Icelandic junior champ in Giant slalom

                        Icelandic junior champ in combined slalom and giant slalom

                        Overall cup for the 2010 Icelandic ski association cup

Results:

Slalom:

1      Jakob Helgi Bjarnason              Dalvík               34.50                   34.64                   1:09.14

2      Páll Ársæll Hafstað                    SKRR                36.14                   37.15                   1:13.29   4.15

3      Auðunn Kvaran                         BBL                   37.70                   36.76                   1:14.46   5.32

4      Snæbjörn Kári Stefánsso          ÍFJ                      37.22                   37.42                   1:14.64   5.50

5      Jón Elí Rúnarssom                    BBL                   37.10                   37.90                   1:15.00   5.86

Giant Slalom:

1     Jakob Helgi Bjarnason              Dalvík                   41.62                   42.78                   1:24.40

2     Páll Ársæll Hafstað                    SKRR                   43.28                   45.12                   1:28.40   4.00

3     Jón Elí Rúnarssom                     BBL                     44.53                   45.26                   1:29.79   5.39

4     Snæbjörn Kári Stefánsson        ÍFJ                        45.14                   45.41                   1:30.55   6.15

5     Oliver Snær Jónsson                  SKRR                   45.10                   46.60                   1:31.70   7.30

I’m very happy with this result and a very good start of my March-April racing plan.

Now; on Monday I am going to France to compete at the Val d’ sere cup and I am so excited can’t wait because my mother is coming to see me :).   I will certainly try my best and try to make all my friends and relatives proud of me; that is my goal!

All the best guys,

Jakob Helgi

This weekend I was racing at Trofeo Topolino, the biggest race for my category in the world.

In slalom I did a very big mistake in the first run.  I was number 11 and not happy at all.  In the second run I did a little better and got the 3^rd time.  I finished in 7^th place but could have done better.    Martin Fjeldberg from Norway won the race with almost two seconds and did very well.  Nik Sterle from Slovenia was second and Mathias Graf from Austria was third.

In the giant slalom I did okay in the first run, was 4^th and only 24/100 behind the second place.  In the second run I did a big mistake before the flat part of the course.  I managed to stay in 5^th place and in my opinion that is pretty respectful, only just over a half a second behind second place.   Miha Hrobat from Slovenia won and Mathias Graf from Austria was second, Giacomo Rigamonti from Italia third and Sandro Simonet from Switzerland fourth. 

Here are the results:

Slalom

Giant slalom

Upcoming events are that in two weeks the Iceland Junior champs will be held and if everything goes like planned they will take place in Reykjavik.  I am also going to race every weekend in April.   The first weekend I will be racing in Val d’ Sere, France.  The second weekend I will be racing in Whistler in Canada, the third weekend I will be racing at the Ingemar Stenmark trophy in Tärnaby, Sweden.  The fourth weekend in April I will be racing at the Donald Duck trophy in Iceland.

So lot of upcoming events and you can get all the information about what’s going on here at the blog.  

I will also put some pics from last couple of months in the next few days.

Ski for gold!

Jakob Helgi Bjarnason

Hi,

Sorry for that I haven’t been blogging so much lately.

In my last blog I told you about the race I was going to compete in, Geilocup in Geilo, Norway.  That race was before Christmas and it didn’t go so good or just okay.  There were 4 races, SL, GS, SG and SC.  In slalom I went out in the first run.  In GS I was second but they only did one run due to cold weather and heavy winds.  In SG I was 2. again and not so happy with that, I think I was skiing way to safe.  In the SC that is one run SG and one run SL.  They use the SG run from earlier so I was in second place coming into the SL part of the SC (super combined).  I did get the best time in the slalom but it wasn’t enough, I finished second. 

So in those races I got three-second places and one disqualification.  I think I wasn’t skiing my best but a respectful performance.

SG:

1 134 Fjeldberg Martin                Ullensaker Skiklubb        0:51.13
2 110 Bjarnason Jakob Helgi       Rælingen Skiklubb          0:51.83     00.70
3 112 Hvammen Kjetil                 Heming IL                       0:52.23     01.10

GS:

1 127 Fjeldberg Martin                Ullensaker Skiklubb         0:51.83
2 158 Bjarnason Jakob Helgi       Rælingen Skiklubb           0:52.63    00.80
3 148 HØGHEIM Sondre            Lommedalens IL               0:52.91    01.08
4 149 Monsen Marcus                 Aron Skiklubb                   0:53.29    01.46

SC:

1   Fjeldberg Martin                  Ullensaker Skikl        0:51.13 (1)     0:34.35 (2)   1:25.48
2   Bjarnason Jakob Helgi         Rælingen Skiklu        0:51.83 (2)     0:34.30 (1)   1:26.13   00.65
3   Hvammen Kjetil                   Heming IL                 0:52.23 (3)     0:35.20 (5)   1:27.43   01.95
4   Grimsrud Torjus Mjelde       Bærums Skiklub        0:53.08 (6)     0:34.83 (3)   1:27.91   02.43
5   Høgheim Sondre                   Lommedalens IL       0:52.62 (4)     0:35.45 (6)   1:28.07   02.59
6   Monsen Marcus                     Aron Skiklubb          0:52.95 (5)     0:35.13 (4)   1:28.08   02.60

Ég skrifa á íslensku hér aðeins neðar til tilbreytingar.

English

Hi

Right now I’m in Geilo, Norway.

I have been training here for 5 days now and it has been perfect, semi cold and almost no snowing.  The snow conditions have been ideal and you cannot wish for any better. 

This week will be especially delightful for me, since I will be training speed from tomorrow until Thursday.  That training is going to take place in Ål, a small town about 20 min away from Geilo.  As I said, I will be training speed or super-g and downhill, in downhill you can ski at over 110 km/h, but the fastest that I have went is 125-130 km/h.

And then to the more serious stuff.  Next weekend I will be racing here in Geilo on Pre-Christmas cup.  The races will take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

On Friday there is giant slalom, on Saturday there is slalom and on Sunday there is one run super-g and one run slalom, or combined.  Although there will be given prices both for super-g only and also for combined.

You can keep in touch by coming here or you can send me an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

,,Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful!”

Jakob Helgi

Íslenska

Sæl

Núna er ég staddur í Geilo í Noregi.

Hér hef ég æft síðustu 5 daga og hafa aðstæður verið frábærar og allt gengið að óskum.  Færi og veður hefur verið fullkomið, í rauninni eru aðstæður með þeim allra bestu í heimi sem stendur.  Það er frábært að geta æft við svona aðstæður.

Þessi vika sem nú er að hefjast verður sérstaklega spennandi fyrir mig.  Frá þriðjudegi til fimmtudags verð ég að æfa hraðagreinar í Ål sem er lítill bær í um 20 min fjarlægð frá Geilo.  Í hraðagreinum sem eru risastórsvig og brun er farið á mikið meiri hraða en í svigi og stórsvigi.  Í bruni er hraðinn um og yfir 100 km/h og í risastórsvigi eða super-g er hraðin heldur minni.  Ég hef hinsvegar verið mældur á 128 km/h í bruni, það er frekar hratt en samt finnst manni það ekkert neitt rosalegt þegar maður er að skíða. 

Og þá yfir í meira alvarleg mál.  Næstu helgi er mót hérna í Geilo sem kallast Förjulscupen.  Á föstudaginn keppi ég í stórsvigi, á laugardaginn keppi ég í svigi og á sunnudaginn keppi ég í super-g.  Á sunnudaginn verður reyndar einnig farin ein ferð í svigi til að fá svokallað combined.  Þar er tíminn úr risastórsviginu lagður saman við tímann úr þessari einu ferð í svigi.  Samt sem áður verða gefin verðlaun sér fyrir risastórsvig og combined.

Þið getið af sjálfsögðu komið hér inn á síðuna og séð hvernig gekk en einnig getur þú eða þið sent mér tölvupóst sem ég mun svara sem fyrst á netfangið: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

,,Árángur er ekki lykillinn að ánægju.  Ánægjan er lykillinn af árángri.  Ef þú elskar það sem þú ert að gera nærðu árángri!”

Bestu kveðjur,

Jakob Helgi

Hi

Here is a video from my training in Pitztal in Oktober.  I have three videos from there and I will put the others onto youtube soon.

Best regards.

Jakob

Now I’m in Geilo, Norway.   I’ve been here since 19^th Nov. 

The conditions here have been perfect.  Here in Geilo we stay with a family that lives in here, they are very helpful and it is much better to stay at a their home than on hotels or in an apartment. 

My skiing is going great and I have great hopes for this winter!

I will come home on Sunday 29^th but only stay there for 10 days and then go again to Geilo.

18-20 Dec I will be racing in Geilo on Förjulscupen or PreChristmascup on English.  I have competed there past 3 years but this is the last winter that I can race there on this race.  I will keep you informed with my results.

We can say that this race marks the beginning of the ,,fun” with the first race :).    I have great hopes for my skiing as I said earlier.  My Giant Slalom (stórsvig) is very good and my Slalom is getting very good to.  My Super-G (risastórsvig) is good to. 

When I come home from this trip I will upload new photos from past weeks to the website and as the winter has started I will put some videos to :).

The Christmas should be great for me; I am going to Selva in Italy with my family for Christmas.  I will then come home at 26^th of December and stay at least over New Year. 

The biggest event of the winter is Trofeo Topolino, the biggest race for skiers under 15 years of age.  All my preparation is to get the best results on that race, at least for this winter. 

Now when the winter is finally starting at fully I will of course bring more information on the website and keep you as informed as I can with what I’m doing.  And if you have any questions just send me an email to:

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Best regards,

Jakob Helgi

Hey there.  I have been very busy last two weeks.

My father and me arein Pitztal now and we got company from one guy from Iceland, Hjalti.  We already got 4 skiing days with excellentconditions.  Tomorrow we have a dayoff to rest a little bit and gain power for three days skiing after that. 

Best regards from thesun in Austria.

Jakob Helgi

Now I am in Saas-Fee Switzerland.

I am training with a group from Norway and we have already had 4 very nice days with perfect weather.  I will stay here until sunday and then drive over to Pitztal in Austria and stay there for 5 days.  The forecast is great for the next days and I hope to get very good days.  I have put some photos in the gallery from this trip.

I have put in all my races this winter.  You can look at them in the Calendar of Activities box.

Regards from Switzerland

Jakob Helgi

I arrived at home 11. September,  in the evening.  It was very good to come home after more then a month away.  Past three days I had exams in school,  I thought I did very well.  

The trip to New Zealand was a great experience for me and it is certain we will repeat it next year,  then with races.  

This weekend I am going to Kópaþrek a 2 day training for alpine skiers around Iceland.  

We are leaving next time 25 of September for 2 weeks,  the plan is to go to Saas-Fee in Switzerland and also Pitztal in Austria.  

Next week I will be at school at last :)

Dad and I left New Zealand 31 August.  We are now in Saas Fee in Switzerland.  We will stay here until 7th or 8th of September and then maybe take 2 or 3 days in indoor skiing hall Wittenburg.  Wittenburg is near to Hamburg in Germany.  The plan is to go home 11 of September.  

We arrived to Saas fee on Wednesday,  last three days it has been closed so our unluck continues.  Today we had a nice day skiing,  with 10 runs of GS in great conditions.  Tomorrow and the day after are supposed to be perfect.

14, 15 and 16 of september I have an exam in the school in English, Icelandic and math.  I use all my free time to study and prepare.

Jakob Helgi

It was closed today because of wind, the wind is about 20 m/s.  We got nice skiing yesterday in slalom,  we have been very unlucky with weather.  The forecast says we will get three very good days next week.  We are thinking about going home earlier due to the weather and maybe go for few days to glacier in Europe. 

The team is going to try to leave as soon as possible but me and dad have another option.

The internet connection is very slow here so I cant blog so much. 

Jakob Helgi

Right now I am sitting at my hotel room in Melbourne,  we have been in Melbourne since on friday,  It took about 5 hours to drive to Melbourne from 

Mt. Hotham.

We stay at Hilton hotel in Melbourne City and we have just been relaxing a bit,  we have a flight tonight to New Zealand at 6 o'clock.  This City is just great,  lot of high buildings and nice restaurants.  Yesterday we went for dinner on a great seafood restaurant.  Dad and I met our friends from Australia,  they had a dinner with us and we had a very nice time :) .

The flight is about 3 and a half hours from Melbourne to Christchurch. The next days we are going to train in Roundhill, New Zealand for few days.

Jakob Helgi

I was for-running today and yesterday,  it was Giant Slalom both the days.  The weather was great, sunny and light wind,  the snow was also very good :) 

I will be for-runner tomorrow in slalom,  there will also be slalom on friday.

After skiing on friday we are going to rest a little bit until sunday in Melbourne City.

On sunday we are going again to New Zealand and will be there until 13th September.

The other boys where racing yesterday and today,

Jakob Helgi 

Right now I am sitting at a cafe in Mt. Hotham in Australia.  We came here at 6 pm yesterday,  we had a flight from Christchurch, NZ to Melbourne , AUS.  It was about 5 hour drive to here from Melbourne.  On our way out of Melbourne City we went to a shopping centre and shopped in food for the week.  Yesterday we had a Kangaroo and I liked it a lot,  now I just have to try crocodile.  There is no skiing today due to bad weather,  80 km/h and rain.  Tomorrow the other guys have a race,  Australia and New Zealand Cup.  

Regards from "down under"

Jakob Helgi 

Today we woke up at 5:45 am and had a breakfast,  we did not start skiing until 9 o'clock because of weather.  When we started it was raining and snowing at the top.  We had a slalom course and it was pretty wet snow and raining very much.  After about 5 gates your googles were full of snow,  It was a good training though.  I have never in my life been so wet and I had to use 2 pairs of gloves on 2 hours because of the rain. 

On Saturday we are leaving to Mt. Hotham in Australia for one week and then we will rest in Melbourne for 2 or 3 days,  then come back to New Zealand for 3 weeks.

I will try to be a forerunner in some FIS-races there.

Jakob Helgi

Today we had a nice day skiing,  the weather was okay.  At first it was windy but then later on it was less.  We were doing slalom gates and it went well.  When daddy and Pauli were setting the course some Japanese guy crashed into Pauli and he hurt his arm and he is maybe broken.  My knee is okay but there is still some pain,  but it bothers me nothing.  Tomorrow we have slalom also,  and it should be nice weather. 

Australia and New Zealand Gallery

Jakob Helgi  

Yesterday it was closed due to heavy winds.  But we had two great days before that, with sun and light wind.  Today it was closed in Mt.Hutt so we drove to a place called Porters,  we had a nice day with a lot of free skiing on slalom skis.  It took about 1 and a half hour to get there.  It was less windy there and partly clouded.

They have three T-bars and a pretty good ski resort.  I was taking the first runs on my new slalom skis and a really liked it,  the snow was also really aggressive.  

New Zealand and Australia Gallery

More later

Jakob Helgi Bjarnason

Hi ,  

Now I am at my destination,  Methven, a small town in New Zealand.  Me and the team came here just over one day ago.  We live at a nice lodge named Methven Lodge .   Yesterday when we came we put all our skis in the ski room and had something to eat.  At 4 a clock me, Björgvin ,  Árni , Stebbi and Katrín went playing golf at a nice country golf club here.  The weather is great right now,  sunny and about 10° celsius in the town,  which is only 30 meters above sea level.  Today we went skiing in a nice mountain called Mt. Hutt.  It took about 35 minuts to drive up to 1750 meters over sea.  The view is remarkable and the snow conditions were great.  We started skiing at 07:30 August 8, (19:30, August 7 on icelandic time).

We are going to stay here for eight days and then go to Australia for one week , then come back to New Zealand.  

Photos from the trip : New Zealand and Australia Gallery 

Good day.

I am leaving to New Zealand tomorrow and right now I am getting everything ready.   

It will be a long trip "down under"  and great opportunity to  get ready for the FIS races there next year.  I am looking forward to ski again and see another side of the world.   I will be there for exactly one and a half month,  coming back September 14 .   

I will try to put something in here every day,   the newest photos and videos.

Jakob Helgi Bjarnason