Zwift Round-Up by kristen Kulchinsky

‍ZWIFT ESPORT ROUND UP - Kristen Kulchinsky This years esports season was a fun and long one, Zwift World Series, UCI World Championships, Nationals, and Zwift Games. It was filled with lots of ups and downs that is to be expected. In the five years of racing elite I’ve learned to just push through whatever comes our way. The Zwift World Series started with a bang, the courses were longer and seemed to highlight each of the different type of power profiles that would help each rider shine or at least have one race circled on the calendar they were targeting. Throughout this series, I was able to keep my racing and points consistent, and placed 2nd in the overall GC.

During the season we had unexpected pause which changed the momentum a bit, so had to do my best while coming back from taking a little rest as well after being sick. Not ideal timing to be sick during our national championships but I pushed through and won and became the USA Esports National Champion for the second year in a row!! Haha last year with Covid and this year with a chest infection.

Zwift Games was circled on my calendar, but with coming back from sickness and some rest I knew it was going to be a challenge but I was excited to give it what I could. Three races spread over three weekends in March. The first race weekend was the sprint championships which not being a sprinter would be the biggest challenge to place the best I could do with the overall GC in mind. I was really excited and proud of my performance and placed 6th setting me up nicely for the following weekend. The Climb Championship races I was looking forward to most, repeating 5 min efforts is def my jam.!

Well, things didnt go as planned and during my warm up I went to my closet to grab a towel and the door shut behind me and locked. While everyone was battling in the climb championships I was battling my closet in the dark. It was truly a nightmare and for 4 hours I tried everything I could do to get out. Josh knew something was wrong when I wasn’t answering his txts or phone calls prior to the race he sprung into action knowing that something was wrong because I would never not show for a race, police were called doors were broken down and lots of tears shed with bruises and cuts. I am so grateful for him. So that took me out of the running for the GC, but I still showed up the following week for the epic championships which was a lot of fun and hard battle to the end and placed 7th.

Zwift world Series

2nd GC

Richmond loop around 5th

Peak performance 3rd

Yorkshire Double Loop 3rd

Shisa Shakedown 5th

Power To the Tower 5th

Zwift Games

Sprint championships 6th

Epic Championships 5th

USA Esports Nationals

1st

UCI Esports World Championships

9th

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Big thanks to my coach and DS Josh Lipka who always knows how to get the best from me. Thank you to Nicola for her unconditional support (emotional as well, haha) so grateful to be on this team for 5 years!

Also shoutout to my teammate Melissa Aiken after a few initial hiccups began to shine pulling out an amazing finish on the toughest course of the season. We always have a blast on our discord during the races!

With the esports season wrapped up for the break for summer, I am fully focused on my Hill Climb Season. Looking forward to see what I can do and achieve out there, chasing my course records I set last year. More confident on my bike and more driven than ever!

Let’s go! - Dare to Dream - Kristen Kulchinsky

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