Son to a four-time Olympian and British ski champion, Freddy Carrick Smith, wasn’t originally going to go into skiing.
“I wouldn’t say so (on if he was always going to ski). My parents are British, but I lived in France when I was a kid, and spent most of my time in Austria in the winter.
“I was skiing since I was three but not racing, just free skiing in a club. I think it was around the age of 10 that we started to get into racing. It was around 12 years old when we thought we could do something.
“I stayed in a normal club in France until I was 16, and then my parents started to coach me.”
Smith achieved a record for Team GB in New Zealand after achieving the nation’s best giant slalom in a World Cup event.
However, that is not the most remarkable record that he holds. In New Zealand, Smith along with his brothers Zak Carrick-Smith and Luca Carrick-Smith finished first, second and third.
On that feat, Smith stated:
“It was amazing. It was our first time in New Zealand so we decided to do some races there and it was awesome to get all three of us on the podium together.
“The goal is to do that in a higher level race, like a World Cup, but it was super cool and we’ll see what we can do.”
Zac and Freddy are twin brothers, and have been training together for most of their life.
“Zac and I, we’ve always been racing and training together, so he’s always pushed me. Having a twin brother really helps to improve.”
Skiing may be the career that Smith has chosen, however he has a different off-season activity that he enjoys.
“When we’re not skiing I try to surf as much as possible, just because we’re skiing most of the time and it’s nice to take a break every once in a while.”
The dream for Smith is to be involved in the Olympics, and having narrowly missed out on last year’s games, Smith is driven to achieve success.
“It was amazing to watch all the other GB athletes and try and support them. For me, I don’t really think about the Olympics too much.
“I just missed out on the selection for last year’s Olympics. I got a result a few days later than I should’ve, so I missed out on the selection, but that’s the game.
“For the next Olympics, it’d be nice (to be selected) because my two brothers hopefully will also be racing.”
For the current World Cup, Team GB have four slots, with two of them taken. Smith shared that there’s two left and all three brothers want it.
“There’s two more slots and there’s three of us that want to race the slalom in Levy. I think we’re going to have to do a time trial to see who gets the two positions.
“It’s like a family knockout so it’s kind of brutal.”
