By Dan Plouffe
It was the moment the Schmidt family in Dunrobin had waited for all their lives. Hannah Schmidt won her first career World Cup ski cross title today in Arosa, Switzerland, and minutes later, her brother Jared followed down the same course and earned his second World Cup victory in a row.
“I saw at the start (that Hannah won), so it gave me a little boost of extra energy,” Jared said in the post-race broadcast interview. “It’s pretty sweet for the Schmidts to (win) 1-2 here in Arosa. What a night. What a race. Just awesome. It’s a dream.”
Read More: Jared Schmidt rides ‘emotional rollercoaster’ to first World Cup men’s ski-cross victory
The Schmidt siblings raced a combined nine heats under the lights at Arosa. In their finals, Hannah managed to veer and avoid the carnage that took out the other three racers in her race, while Jared rode his streak of lightning starts all the way down to maintain his place on top of the world.
“I screamed, I cried, times two,” reported the Schmidts’ mom, L.A., in an email exchange with the Ottawa Sports Pages. “It’s just amazing! What a feeling! It’s been such a journey. I need to write a book some day!”
Once upon a time, both Schmidts were struggling big-time to break into the top level of the alpine ski world. That started to change once Jared tried his hand at ski cross and later drew his older sister into the sport that originated in the X Games.
Read more about the Schmidts’ roots in ski cross in the Sports Pages feature below:
Read More: Ski cross the new family passion for top Nor-Am circuit siblings