Ericsson, Guimond take silvers in Para Alpine World Championships Giant Slalom

Photos Alpine Canada

(Alpine Canada) Canada’s men’s Para-Alpine team got off to a strong start at the Para Alpine World Championships in Maribor, SLO, on Sunday, capturing two silver medals in the Giant Slalom.

In just their first World Championship, Kalle Ericsson (Kimberley, BC) and guide Sierra Smith (Ottawa, ON) skied to a silver medal in the visually impaired category, continuing a good run of races after a win and a third-place GS finish on the World Cup circuit in St. Moritz, SUI.

At his fifth World Championships, standing skier Alexis Guimond (Gatineau, QC) brought the Canadian flag to the podium as well, finishing second in the standing category, adding another medal to his collection from the discipline from major events, which includes Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022 Paralympic bronze and a 2017 World Championship bronze.

For Ericsson, 20, and Smith, 24, the World Championship podium is the next progression in a meteoric rise over the last two seasons. After sweeping the National Championship in 2023, the two took on their first World Cup season in 2023-24, winning their first World Cup race, a slalom in Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITA, in just their seventh race together, in February 2024.

Just over a year later, they’re standing on the World Championship GS podium together, with the slalom still to come. The duo led the opening run on Sunday, putting down a clean line to a time of 1:03.71 before slight hesitation in the second run saw them fall behind Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli and his guide Andrea Ravelli in the second run, clocking a combined time of 2:06.16.

Poland’s Michal Golas and his guide Kacper Walas rounded out the podium with bronze.

“It feels really good to get a silver at our first World Championships. Obviously, I’m pretty bummed we couldn’t hold onto our win in the second run, but we did what we could, skied fast, skied hard and got on the podium,” Ericsson said, flanked by Smith, one of the few women guiding on the men’s side of the sport.

Smith added: “This season, kind of taking every race as it comes, we’re still pretty new and trying to get better at everyone and get that experience out of it.”

Ericsson started to lose his vision in 2020 from a rare case of solar retinopathy while skiing on a glacier in Sweden, and joined up with the Para Alpine program soon after, with his father, Lasse Ericsson, having been a Para Alpine coach with Team Canada for 17 years.

The duo also had to wait for a delayed start to this season, with Ericsson recovering from an injury through the early portions of the winter. Since returning, they’ve been in stellar form, with Sunday’s podium only increasing the excitement for their potential participation at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Paralympics.

“It makes us more excited for next year,” Ericsson said. “I think we’re in a good spot in our skiing right now, so if we can carry this momentum into next year for the Games, we should be well, and it should be a lot of fun.”

While Ericsson and Smith enjoy the build towards their first Paralympics, Guimond is at the World Championships as a veteran and put all he had on the line in the second run, to catch eventual winner Arthur Bauchet of France, who finished in a combined 2:03.40, ahead of Guimond’s 2:06.14.

“I had to apply changes after I saw the times between Arthur [Bauchet] and me in the first run. I wanted to chase the World Championship title, so I had to do something and push,” Guimond said. “I got a little bit unlucky and flustered in the first bit of the course, but I knew I had enough momentum to keep down the hill, really push and shorten that margin.”

“It’s my fifth World Championship, and I always think in these races that the stakes are high, but a race is a race. I’m super competitive and won’t back down from a fight. My competitiveness will always get the better of me, and I’ll try to push and get that top step every time.”