AST Athlete Journal: Gered Thompson
Hello everybody! My name is Gered Thompson, and this is my second year on the Alberta Ski Team. My home club is Nakiska Alpine Ski association. I’d like to thank them for the continual support in my ski racing career and their contributions to my athletic development over the years. I went through their program, up until second year-FIS when I was named to the Alberta Ski Team. We have a great team dynamic this year, it being Caleb Brooks, Aidan Kometz, myself, with a wicked development team in place. The Alberta team had huge amounts of successes and challenging experiences as we finished off our racing in 2023. Caleb has represented Alberta on the podium several times while Aidan has stepped up to the NORAM circuit for his first time. I am currently on my way to Italy to train and race my first Europacup. Excitedly, I have recently been announced to the 2024 Canadian World Juniors team where we will be representing Canada at Portes du Soleil, in France. This will be my first time skiing in France, and I’m super excited for this new experience. From Italy, the team will continue on to represent Canada on a world platform. I will be competing in the speed events; super G and downhill.
Qualifying for World Juniors came with challenges. Alpine Canada took our results from races in Copper Mountain, Beaver Creek, and the Burke Norams to solidify the team. During the training three days prior to the races in Copper, I had a crash that led to a fracture in my thumb. This injury was a big test to my mental toughness and required determination to overcome. It made pushing out of the start difficult and very uncomfortable. I tried my best to hold my focus to keep a grasp on my pole for the minute thirty downhill. In the end, Alpine Canada has put together a strong and well-rounded team. I’m super excited for what these next few weeks have in store for me.
This race season wouldn’t be possible without the constant support from my sponsors, Sporting Life, Karbon, GMC Dealers of Alberta, and Genstar Development Company. I’d also like to thank Mitch from Fischer and my supports from my bottle drives.
