Gangwon 2024: Zak Carrick-Smith's historic men's combined comeback earns Great Britain's first Youth Olympic gold in alpine skiing
The 16-year-old climbed 26 positions after the Super G run to secure his country's first-ever gold in alpine skiing at any Olympic event.
Alpine Skiing
Zak Carrick-Smith made a stunning comeback in the men's combined race at the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) on Monday (22 January) to claim Great Britain's first-ever gold in an alpine skiing Olympic event.
The 16-year-old delivered a sensational slalom run, climbing 26 position and clocking an aggregate time of 1:49.46 - 0.13 seconds faster than the silver medallist Alexander Ax Swartz of Sweden.
Another Swede, Liam Liljenborg, rounded off the podium after finishing fourth in the Super G.
"I remember going up the chairlift after the first run, I was disappointed and I just knew I had to give my all in slalom so I just didn't hold back at all, I just went at it and probably had the best run of my life, it was just amazing," said Zak Carrick-Smith, who is coached by his mum, Emma Carrick-Anderson, a four-time Olympian for Team GB.
Zak was selected for team GB over his twin brother Freddy, who is going to compete in the Junior World Championships taking place in France later this month.
Part of the Youth Olympic champion's coaching team is also Jo Ryding, sister of Britain's history-maker Dave Ryding: "He's an amazing inspiration for me. His biggest advice for me was, 'just keep pushing, failure after failure, you will eventually succeed,'" he concluded.
Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympics - Alpine skiing: Men's individual combined results
Monday, 22 January - Top 10
- Zak Carrick-Smith (GBR) 1:49.46
- Alexander Ax Swartz (SWE) +0.13
- Liam Liljenborg (SWE) +0.84
- Miha Oserban (SLO) +0.90
- Andrej Barnas (SVK) +0.94
- Elliot Westlund (SWE) +0.97
- Jevin Palmquist (USA) +1.09
- Asaja Sturm (AUT) +1.27
- 8= Nash Huot-Marchand (FRA) +1.27
- Lars Horvath (GER) +1.44
Full results: here
Zak Carrick-Smith celebrating with his mum and Jo Ryding, respectively second and first from the left.
How to watch alpine skiing at Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games
Action from the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympics is available live, worldwide, and without subscription on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app.
Full replays and highlights of all six competition days for alpine skiing will be available, and you can catch highlights, reaction interview clips, news articles, and full results from the Republic of Korea across the website and official Olympics social media accounts.