22 January 2024 – 16 year-old Zak Carrick-Smith has won Great-Britain’s first ever skiing medal at a Winter Olympic event - gold in the Men’s Combined Slalom at the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Gangwon 2024
Austria's Maja Waroschitz had earlier stormed to alpine women's combined gold on a freezing and historic day at the High 1 Ski resort in Gangwon, the first time the Winter Youth Olympic Games have been staged in Asia.
Carrick-Smith produced a sensational slalom run to make up 26 places with an aggregate time of 1:49.46, enough to finish clear of the Swedish duo of Alexander Ax Swartz (silver) and Liam Liljenborg (bronze).
Zak’s mother Emma competed in four Winter Olympic Games for Team GB between 1992 and 2002, but Great-Britain had fallen short of a medal at an Olympic event until today.
Meanwhile 17-year-old Austrian Waroschitz excelled on the freezing slope, to move from bronze medal after he Super G to first after the slalom, maintaining her lead to win ahead of Giorgia Collomb - more medal success of Italy - Germany's Romy Ertl in bronze. Waroschitz had never raced in Super G before but said the icy conditions suited her.
Gangwon 2024 runs until 1 February, with more than 1,800 athletes from 78 NOCs taking part. The Winter Youth Olympic Games is filmed for live television and digital streaming on the Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the Olympics app, with full session replays and highlights also available.
