Previewing Milano Cortina 2026: Eriksson and Smith ace downhill test ahead of Milano Cortina 2026

CORTINA, Italy – Canadians Kalle Eriksson and his guide Sierra Smith were all smiles at the finish line Wednesday morning as they posted the third fastest time in the men’s visually impaired downhill training run for the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games which start Friday.

Both have been battling injuries this season, forcing the pair to miss stops on the World Cup circuit.

Eriksson dislocated his shoulder early in the campaign and then bruised his knee in January which knocked him off the slopes for two more weeks. Smith has also faced some knee issues.

But that’s history for the pair.

‘’We’re healthy and we’re back and the injuries are behind us now,’’ said Smith, a former women’s national team member from Ottawa. ‘’We’re all good to go for the Games and we’ll try to keep it that way.’’

They joined forces in late 2022 and posted their first World Cup win in February 2024. Last year they collected two silver medals at the world championships and this season, despite the injuries still snared five medals on the World Cup circuit.

In their first foray on the Paralympic Games course Wednesday, they said the steep 2,105-metre run is going to challenge the racers in Saturday’s downhill when they go full throttle.

‘’It’s one of the harder tracks that we’ve raced on,’’ said Kimberley B.C.’s Eriksson, who began losing his vision three years ago after previously competing as an able-bodied skier. ‘’There’s a lot more airtime and it’s quite technical in sections. We are learning a lot as we go here.’’

Their top opponents at the Games are expected to be Johannes Aigner of Austria who has dominated the World Cup this year in all four events and four-time Paralympic Games champion Giacomo Bertagnolli of Italy.

There’s more firepower for Canada in the standing and sitting events.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mollie Milavsky Jepsen (@mollie_jepsen)

In the standing events, Canada brings two Crystal Globe champions to its eight-member team for the Games. Alexis Guimond of Gatineau, Que., a Team Canada co-captain, and Mollie Jepsen, both at their third Games, hope to cap great seasons with medal performances in Cortina.

Neither was concerned with 10^th place rankings Wednesday.

Guimond, a two-time Paralympic bronze medalist, says the training run was more a scouting mission for him.

‘’I just wanted to get some information about this course and I know looking ahead I need to make a lot of adjustments,’’ said Guimond with three Super G World Cup wins this season. ‘’I know I can go a lot faster as well.’’

The men’s standing events are some of the most anticipated races at the Games. Guimond’s two top rivals Robin Cuche of Switzerland and Arthur Bauchet of France were 1-2 in the training run.

Jepsen and Michaela Gosselin of Collingwood, Ont., eighth on Wednesday, bring a solid 1-2 punch for Canada in the women’s standing event while veteran Kurt Oatway of Calgary, a Paralympic downhill champion in 2018, is another medal threat in men’s sit skiing.

Oatway was fourth in Wednesday’s training run with Brian Rowland of Merrickville, Ont., 12^th.

‘’Today was just about confidence,’’ said Jepsen, a six-time Games medallist. ‘’There’s a lot terrain and plenty of rolls so it was important for me to get good feelings about the track.’’