Unlikely partnership forges potential Paralympic medal threats in alpine skier Eriksson, guide Smith
Just five years ago, the idea of Kalle Eriksson competing for Canada at the Paralympics would have been unthinkable.
Now, he may just leave Milano Cortina as the country’s leading medal winner.
“I’m excited. I’m nervous. It’s really the only thing that’s in my thoughts right now,” Eriksson said. “So it’s a big deal.”
Eriksson, a visually impaired Para alpine skier, will head to Italy for the Paralympics, which run March 6-15 with live coverage on CBC, with multiple podiums in his aim.
Yes, his is partially the story of someone undergoing a dramatic life change, gaining Paralympic eligibility and turning to sport as fuel.
But it is also the tale of a recreational skier learning to love competition through an unlikely partnership and family ties.
“I feel like this is a cheesy thing to say because a lot of people say it, but it’s true,” Eriksson prefaced of what a Paralympic medal might mean.
“A lot of blood and tears have gone into where we’re at today. And so to see all that pay off in the long run, it’s kind of hard to look at it right now. But I know that if that moment does happen, it will really be an ‘OK, it was all worth it’ kind of feeling.”
In 2021, Eriksson was hanging out atop a ski hill with his father, Lasse Eriksson, who happens to be a longtime World Cup coach for Canada’s Para alpine team.
The younger Eriksson was just there to help at the training camp, aiding with administrative work like recording start times. He wasn’t wearing sunglasses or goggles.
About 24 hours later, he began noticing some vision loss. Then, it grew worse. Eriksson went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a welder’s flash — a cornea inflammation caused by overexposure to UV light. He was told it would be gone within a week or two.
Nothing changed. Eriksson followed up with a specialist.
“He pretty much told me that I was going to be legally blind for the rest of my life,” Eriksson said. “The sun reflecting onto the snow actually burned a hole right through my retina. Pretty much the same thing as if you were to look up at a solar eclipse.”
To that point, Eriksson had never particularly gravitated toward competitive skiing.
Instead, he preferred backroading it with buddies.
“Going out, hanging out, skiing, kind of doing whatever we felt like. Maybe go for a couple beers on the hill, whatever,” he said.
Might as well try racing
But one year after the incident, Eriksson received a call from a visually impaired ski team in Alberta, which asked if he’d be interested in joining.
“What the hell? Why not?” Eriksson responded. “I’ve been skiing my whole life. Might as well go out and try racing. [Then, I] kind of fell in love with it right away.”
Eriksson intended just to go for two weeks. After Day 3, however, he’d already found a groove, beating others who’d been at it much longer than he had.
International success came nearly immediately. During the 2024-25 World Cup season, Eriksson won 10 medals, including a pair of gold, one of which came at the Paralympic mountain in Cortina. He added two silver medals at the world championships in slalom and giant slalom.
Canadian Para alpine skier Kalle Ericsson and guide Sierra Smith talk about their silver medal success at the World Para Alpine Championships, and tell CBC Sports’ Brittany MacLean what their training process looks like.
The 21-year-old from Kimberley, B.C., returned to the slopes for this season in the fall but sustained a shoulder injury during a training camp in Chile, which forced him to miss the first World Cup of the season. He’s set to debut at the second World Cup beginning Monday in Santa Caterina, Italy.
Outside of his daily life — he began losing vision at the same time he was learning to drive and was forced adjust to using public transportation with help from friends, for example — Eriksson’s biggest adjustment has come on the slopes.
The life of a competitive skier was somewhat foreign to him. Then, in Calgary, he found ex-Canadian national team skier Sierra Smith, who served as his guide.
It was a partnership that clicked immediately.
“Neither of us had any idea what we were doing. We were just like, ‘OK, well, I guess I ski in front of you now and you follow and we’ll see what happens,” Smith recalled. “And so we did that and literally right after the first run, we’re like, ‘Holy cow, this is pretty cool.’”
Good trust and friendship
Smith, the 25-year-old Ottawa native, has competed internationally since 2016, mostly at lower-level events.
She just happened to be assisting the Para team when Eriksson came to Calgary, and the pairing, she said, “just kind of fell into our laps.”
Now, Smith serves as Eriksson’s eyes during competition. They communicate through a headset, with Smith sending cues to Eriksson to help keep him on the course.
Communication is critical.
“No matter what sport you’re in, you have to have trust in your teammates. But in our sport, especially VI racing, she has to trust me to be safe behind her and I have to trust her to get me down the hill safely. And so I think that just having good trust and a friendship in one another is a big part of it,” Eriksson said.
To that end, Eriksson and Smith spend plenty of time together away from the slopes to build their connection.
Activities include mountain biking, rock climbing and even line dancing — which was a weekly Thursday tradition in Calgary.
Smith has also helped nurture Eriksson’s competitive fire.
“From someone who didn’t grow up ski racing to where he is now … is really impressive,” she said.
Eriksson said racing is a “different mentality” than the casual skiing he used to do with his friends.
“To put ski boots on to go and compete was a weird feeling for me compared to putting ski boots on to go out and have a chill time, if you will,” he said.
Now, though, Eriksson and Smith’s desire to win burns bright. The Paralympics — and potentially multiple shots to step up onto the podium — beckon.
“It would be kind of an unreal feeling to me,” he said. “We’ve been moving pretty quick and I feel like that would be the cherry on top for Sierra and I.”
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