HIGH ACHIEVERS: Ski-cross racer Jared Schmidt aims to have everything line up at second Olympics

JARED SCHMIDT
Sport: Ski Cross
Events: Men’s
Age: 28
Hometown: Dunrobin
Residence: Calgary
Local Club: Mont-Tremblant
Second Olympics
Instagram: @jschmidty18

VIEW JARED’S COMPETITION SCHEDULE HERE.

By Martin Cleary

The sharp sound of the alarm clock pierces the prolonged quiet of the room as darkness gives way to daylight.

It’s race day.

Jared Schmidt eases out of bed to begin his trusted routine, which will take him to the top of a ski cross course with nervousness and excitement and hopefully down to the bottom with enough speed and safety to fill him with joy and laughter.

A short exercise routine awakens his body, which could be called upon to have as many as five races in quick succession on this day. But Schmidt is familiar with this template as he has successfully completed multi-race days in the past on the World Cup circuit.

But Feb. 21 will be markedly different.

It won’t have the flavour of a World Cup, a world championship or even a national championship. That date is etched on his calendar for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games men’s ski cross. It will be his one and only day of competition and will arrive one day after his sister Hannah competed for Canada in women’s ski cross at her second career Olympics.

For Schmidt to fuel his planned full day of four-man alpine-style racing over bumps and around sharp corners, he starts with a power breakfast of four eggs, fresh fruit, yogurt and black coffee.

Once fed, it’s time to put on his racing suit and gather his equipment – skis by Elan, poles by Leki, boots by Lange and goggles and helmet by Dainese.

A bus will take him and his peers to the bottom of the competition venue at the Livigno Snow Park. Time to put on the racing bib and snap on the skis, which have been carefully prepared by wax technicians, who have studied the snow conditions.

An hour before the seeding heat, which is an individual time trial down the course to rank the ski-cross racers No. 1 to No. 32, Schmidt will inspect the course. He will examine the course twice. One run will be at a slower, learning pace, while he’ll pick up the pace for the other course inspection.

When the course inspection is finished, it’s off to a neighbouring site for some final, pre-race training.

The qualifying seeding round goes first to determine the four members for each of the eight opening-round races. The top two athletes from each of the eight races will advance to the quarterfinals. The top two survivors from each of the next brackets will stay alive until the top four will go for the medals in the Big Final. The third- and fourth-place finishers in the two semifinals will race in the Small Final for positions fifth through eighth.

Since it can be a long day with pre-race preparations and one race after another for the survivors, Schmidt carries granola bars, apple sauce, a sandwich and a banana in his backpack for energy food.

But when it’s race time, it’s time to focus, clear your mind and wait for the starting gate to drop to see the racers charge down the course.

“It’s intense,” Schmidt said about his brief stay in the four-man start hut. “There are three other skiers and their coaches behind them. It’s hard to describe. Sometimes it feels like an hour, when you’re only there about 40 seconds.

“It’s cool to be in that zone. I try to calm my mind. On the course, you go for it, once the gate drops. It’s full on. You do your best to get in front through the traffic and navigate your way around. All the scenarios in your head never happen. You have to be super present and focus on the task at hand.”

The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, which opened Friday at four different sites throughout Italy, will be the second Games for Schmidt. He placed 10th in his Olympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Games.

Schmidt, 28, is a veteran on the international ski-cross scene, having started 10 years ago and competing in his first World Cup race in January, 2019 at Blue Mountain, ON. He also has 76 World Cup races and three world championship races to his credit.

Read More: Ski cross the new family passion for top Nor-Am circuit siblings

Following his World Cup debut, he tore his MCL and needed reconstructive surgery, which forced him to miss the entire 2019-20 season. But he made an impressive rebound and had his first World Cup podium finish, a third, in Bakuriani, Georgia. Early in the 2021-22 season, he again made a Big Final and was third at Arosa, Switzerland.

After experiencing a podium drought in 2022-23, Schmidt set the World Cup on fire with three consecutive victories in 2023-24, including one on the same day Hannah captured the women’s race in Val Thorens, France. They became the first siblings to win World Cup ski-cross races on the same day and at the same site.

Read More: ‘It’s a dream’: Schmidt ski cross siblings share World Cup wins on same day

The 2024-25 World Cup season saw Schmidt earn one podium finish, a third. He placed 16th overall on the World Cup points standings last season, after being eighth in 2024, 21st in 2023, 28th in 2022 and 38th in 2021.

While Schmidt hasn’t produced a top-three World Cup result after nine races this season, he has come close and feels good about his racing. He was fourth in the first of two races in Innichen, Italy, which also was his only Big Final this season.

In two Small Finals, he was sixth in the first of two World Cup races in Veysonnaz, Switzerland, and eighth in Arosa.

“I’m having a great season so far,” Schmidt enthused in a phone interview from the Canadian ski cross team training camp in Livigno, Italy. “It’s turning in the right direction, but it hasn’t lined up yet to be my day.”

For a ski-cross racer to have ‘a my day,’ all the pieces of the puzzle have to snap together – a clean, fast start, stay out of trouble, focus and be aware of what’s around you to make instant adjustments. And that must happen not only in one race, but also all the races.

Schmidt’s second Olympic experience will be significantly different than his first as he has a full four more years experience racing against the best and occasionally being among the best.

“It (Beijing Olympics) was a crazy experience,” he recalled. “Beijing had so many new experiences. There were all the athletes from different nations and you’d sit at the dinner hall with them. It can be overwhelming.

“The first three days was overwhelming. But now, I feel more comfortable and more race knowledgeable and have more experience to bring to these Olympics. I’m looking at it as another race and not getting too nervous.

“I’ll follow my race routine, go have fun and do what I do best.”

Read More: Managing Type 1 diabetes big part of ski cross racing for 2-time Olympian Hannah Schmidt

JARED SCHMIDT OLYMPIC COMPETITION SCHEDULE:

Jared Schmidt (Ski Cross)

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