ALPINE: Greta Small’s 21st birthday celebration just about sums up everything you need to know about the young star.

Instead of a party at the family home reminiscing about her youth, the thrill-seeking alpine speedster took a break from training to spend her momentous day freefalling from a suspended cable car in the South of New Zealand.

“My present from my dad was a 134m bungy jump off the Nevis Range,” Small said.

“It was absolutely awesome and I cannot wait to do another. After bungy jumping some of us also went cliff jumping into the lake. I love anything with an adrenaline rush.”

Small has grown up speeding down the slopes and in a sport like alpine skiing where athletes hit their peak towards their late twenties, the dedicated young gun has already achieved so much.

As a 16-year-old she was selected to compete at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2012 where she proudly carried the flag at the Opening Ceremony.

Two years later she was the second youngest alpine athlete at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games where she competed in all five disciplines and upstaged many of her more experienced rivals, including a 15th in the Super Combined.

“I am proud of my achievements. The satisfaction and pride that comes with achieving your goals and dreams is awesome.

“I have always looked at the big picture though and I still have a long way to go.”

A knee injury forced her to slow pursuit of her goals for a while but after a solid stint off the snow she has recently returned to competition in New Zealand.

“I have learnt a lot about the type of person and athlete I am in this past year of rehab and now I am hungry and more determined to get back out there.

“My knee is feeling really strong and this southern hemisphere racing was a good way to get my confidence back in challenging snow conditions.

“The races were a mixed bag with some disappointing races and results, although I am happy I took out the overall Australian New Zealand Cup title for the fifth time in my career.

“Following the competition I had an intense two-week training camp with the New Zealand national team and a local club which was awesome fun and I made good gains.”

With the cobwebs blown out Small has now headed to her base in Austria as she looks to get back racing against the world’s best.

“I am currently training on the Pitzal glacier for the last training block before racing starts.

“The official season started with last weekend’s World Cup opening in Soelden, Austria, but I will start racing at the end of November in Europe.

“The main event this season is the World Championships in St Moritz, Switzerland which I am sure will be a spectacular event. My goal is always to go out there and ski as fast as I can.”

While it has been a long road back and her immediate thoughts are on the season ahead, Small already has her eyes on competing at her second Olympic Games.

“This season is definitely partly planned around qualifying early for PyeongChang.

“It’s also about taking the opportunities there are to ski on the hills in Korea as next season as the Games approach there is no chance to ski on the hills.

“I have skied in Korea at a number of resorts and it is vastly different to Europe, the USA and Japan. I raced at Yongpyong two years ago, which is where the tech events will be held, and I will race on the speed hill in Jeongseon this season at the World Cup test event in March.”

It will be that experience on the Korean slopes that will hopefully give Small the best chance to better her Sochi results. She is however unsure of whether she will take to the slopes in every race come her second Games.

“I have not decided whether to compete in all Alpine events in PyeongChang, although I would do it again. There is a sixth alpine event new to PyeongChang, the parallel team event, so maybe I’ll do six events,” she said with a laugh.

“We’ll just wait and see what this season brings, how I am shaping up before the Games and how the program plays out.”

Small has from now until January 21 2018 to secure her qualification for PyeongChang and become one of only eight Australians to have competed in multiple Olympic Games in alpine skiing.

Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au