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Sven Winter spent his summer pushing himself in the gym, sometimes to the point of throwing up, while aiming to add 10 to 15 pounds of muscle and be ready to take even bigger hits in his fast and furious sport.
The Whistler-raised ski cross racer spent last season competing with the B.C. team run through the Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC), racing in Europe and North America and building up valuable experience. Now Winter is barrelling full-speed ahead toward his long-standing dream of becoming an Olympic champion.
Last season, his first full season of ski cross racing, his Europa Cup events offered a great overall experience, Winter said. There was “definitely a learning curve” as he and the other B.C. racers battled some strong fields and heated competition.
That experience prepared him to perform well in the events in the remainder of the season, such as placing 10th at the Canadian championships against some of the internationally dominant national team racers, and finishing third in the unofficial U.S. national championships.
At the Canadian championships, Winter said, he was happy with how he stacked up next to the strong contingent, holding his own against the likes of multi-World Cup medalist Davey Barr. In his first round of racing, he said he beat Barr out of the all-important starting gate and held him to the last turn, though he couldn’t advance past the second round after winding up in a heat with stars Barr and Chris Del Bosco.
“It was great to shine in front of the national team coaches,” Winter said in an interview earlier this summer.
Winter said he thought things went phenomenally well last season, and he was happy to find himself ranked 89th in the world overall and 14th for his age group after coming from nowhere in the sport. Having tired of his alpine racing, Winter switched to the fast and rough world of ski cross and found it to be a perfect fit, given the combination of his wrestling background and love of speed.
“It just rekindled my love of the sport,” Winter said.
He told The Question he’d been spending his offseason working with a personal trainer who has a mixed martial arts background, putting in short but incredibly intense gym sessions three times per week to make him even tougher for the short, head-to-head ski cross races. Ski cross athletes have to be strong, speedy out of the start gate and ready to react to absolutely everything, he said.
“I’m ready to take bigger hits now,” Winter said, adding that his goal overall has been to train “hard enough so that the races seem easy.”
As a self-funded athlete, Winter also spent some offseason time working on his fundraising efforts, including a website to sell health, home and beauty products with profits going toward his Olympic quest.
And as an athlete who hopes to inspire others, he shares advice and learning he has gleaned from his coaches through his Twitter account called AthleteHabits, for which he has more than 4,100 followers.
Winter is bringing his focus to bear on races in Australia and New Zealand, hoping to qualify for a spot to compete on the World Cup circuit in the upcoming season. Representing Whistler and the B.C. team with fellow racers Stan Rey and Ian McDonald, Winter said he will race at Mount Holtham on Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 22 and 23), and at Cardrona in New Zealand on Aug. 27.
Meanwhile, the WMSC has hired Drew Hetherington as the new coach for the B.C. ski cross program. A Whistler-raised former WMSC racer, Hetherington has worked as a coach and guide for companies such as the Whistler Blackcomb ski school and Extremely Canadian, and he served as assistant coach for the WMSC and B.C. ski cross program last year.
