By Canadian Press

Ski cross siblings Hannah and Jared Schmidt combine breakout seasons

Jan 17, 2024 | 1:53 PM

The Schmidt siblings are hitting their ski cross stride at the same time.

Hannah Schmidt, 29, and Jared Schmidt, 26, have posted career-best results this season. Jared won three World Cups in a row and the siblings also claimed gold medals on the same day in December.

“It’s crazy, but I always wished for it,” said mother Lesley Anne, who goes by LA. “When you have two kids doing the same thing and travelling together and skiing together, and one’s really successful and one might not be successful … about a year ago I said to a friend ‘I wish they’d do really well on the same day.’ This happens and I was just a puddle.”

Schmidt leads the men’s overall World Cup standings and Hannah is the highest-ranked Canadian woman in third. They lead a deep host team into back-to-back World Cups on Saturday and Sunday at Nakiska Ski Resort in Alberta. 

Olympic women’s multi-medallist Marielle Thompson of Whistler, B.C., and two-time men’s overall World Cup winner Reece Howden of Cultus Lake, B.C., are also in the field.

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As host, Canada can have up to 18 racers Thursday and Friday in qualifying for what’s been dubbed the NASCAR of ski racing. 

Ottawa’s Jared and Hannah finished atop their respective podiums in a Dec. 12 night race in Arosa, Switzerland, which kicked off a run of three straight for Jared.

“Pretty fricking cool,” was Hannah’s assessment of that day. She was the lone woman among four in the final to stay on her feet and cross the finish line.

Their father Bevin was working with the course crew at a women’s World Cup giant slalom in Mont-Tremblant, Que., that day, so LA says she was alone in their home screaming for joy while their dog barked madly.

“We’ve both been skiing really, really well in the past two, three years,” Jared said. “We both had a few podiums and our hard work is showing now, but the skiing, it’s kind of always been there. We’re just kind of in a good mental state, at least I am.

“I’ve made a few advancements in my mental preparation, in my mental strength. That has kind of brought forth the speed that’s always been there in my skiing, but now it’s showing because I’ve mentally been able to figure it out.”

He works with the team’s mental coach, but says reading Terry Orlick’s book “In Pursuit of Excellence” last fall was enlightening.

“Putting those tidbits into my race day routine helped me a little bit,” Jared said.

He was the first of the two to switch from alpine ski racing to ski cross in 2017 with Hannah following a year and a half later. 

Both competed in the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, where Hannah was seventh and Jared 10th. Both have overcome major knee injuries in their careers and Hannah is a Type 1 diabetic.

“I’m still able to compete, still able to train and manage Type 1 diabetes at the same time,” Hannah said. “Definitely not easy. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. That being said, anyone living with Type 1 diabetes, you’re more than able to be an elite athlete.”

LA, a former canoe racer, worked with Canoe Kayak Canada to lobby for the inclusion of women’s canoe in Olympic Games, which happened in 2021 in Tokyo. Her kayaker niece Madeline Schmidt raced the women’s K4 in Tokyo.

Jared competed in kayak and Hannah in canoe as teenagers, but they couldn’t resist the adrenalin rush of ski racing.

“The appeal for me was I get to go downhill fast and it always changes because no two courses are the same,” Jared said. “Canoe and kayak, sometimes it gets repetitive because you’re always doing the same 1,000 metres or 500 metres.”

The siblings, who share a home in Calgary with their respective partners, say competition with each other creeps into their daily lives.

“Card games get a little heated,” Jared said. “We grew up in a house where we always did so many sports. When we were doing anything or playing anything, it was always a little bit of a competition of ‘I want to do this better than Hannah.'”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2024.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press