Lara Markthaler, who loves going downhill fast, made a decision five or so years ago that is taking her to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
The Germany-born South African, whose father and coach Christian hails from Munich and manager mom Judith from Durban, has loved sport for as long as she can remember.
By the age of 12, while living in Canada (that explains her accent) she was already a talented downhill mountain bike racer. “She was the fastest girl in all North America,” recalled Christian.
But she needed to choose one sport. “I love both very much, but ski racing is a lot less dangerous,” said Lara.
“When we crash in ski racing, we fall on snow — mountain-biking either on a rock or into a tree, and that was definitely a point for my parents. And also ski racing is [an] Olympic [sport], which is such a dream for me since I’ve been a little girl.”
The Markthalers returned to Europe, where the Alps are the hotbed of skiing. Now she’s pushing into the top echelons in the world.
Last month, Markthaler celebrated her 18th birthday by finishing 29th in the slalom at the world championships in Austria, beating 87 other competitors.
After crossing the finish line the crowds sang happy birthday to her, and local media jumped on the underdog tale of the girl who has traded the beach for the ski slopes.
It may be a stretch, given that she lived in South Africa only a short while when she was younger, but her achievements are real, having already swept into the points range she needs to qualify for the Winter Games.
Lara, who does homeschooling to cope with the demands of slalom, said it was easy to pick South Africa when choosing a nationality for competition. “I have a strong connection to the country. I have a lot more family in South Africa than I do in Germany ... I love the idea of putting South Africa on the winter sport map.”
In slalom, skiers must pass poles, called gates, at tight angles to complete the course as quickly as possible.
Lara said she can get up to 60km/h in competition. Speeds get faster in giant slalom, Super G and downhill, with competitors eventually getting up to 140km/h. “I like the technical disciplines [slalom and giant slalom]. You have to move really fast, and it’s also quite demanding. Just because we don’t go [as] fast doesn’t mean we don’t have to move fast with our bodies.”
Christian pointed out that skiers matured in their early 20s, after which they ventured into the faster disciplines.
His daughter was tracked, using a GPS device, doing Super G at around 135km/h, he said. “You definitely notice [the speed],” said Lara.
“In speed [disciplines] the turns are also a lot wider and you have a lot more time so when my dad told me that I was going 135km/h I was a bit surprised. But it definitely can get quite scary, especially if I make a little mistake or catch an edge or something.”
She has 20 pairs of skis which are used in different conditions, depending on the snow.
Lara is based in Val Di Fassa, Italy. “Perfect conditions. This is on the south side of the Alps; there’s always amazing weather — sunshine, blue sky. And then what’s important for racing is that we have very, very compact snow, very icy snow.”
In summer they head to the glaciers to train and last year they went to Chile, with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee assisting with the costs of the trip.
In total Lara spends about 320 days a year racing and training.
There’s not much down time.
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