Canada's Schmidt siblings are the best surprise of the ski season
Brother and sister both win ski cross medals again
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Nine days after scoring their first career victories just minutes apart, Canadian ski cross siblings Jared and Hannah Schmidt both reached the World Cup podium again.
Jared won today's men's event in northern Italy for his third consecutive gold, right after his older sister Hannah raced to the women's bronze for her second straight medal. She now sits third in the women's World Cup standings while her brother has opened up a massive lead in the men's chase over defending champion and fellow Canadian Reece Howden, who finished eighth today.
No one saw this coming for the Ottawa siblings. Heading into the season opener in France earlier this month, Hannah, 29, had just one World Cup medal to her name — a silver from last December. She placed seventh at the 2022 Winter Olympics, where she was eliminated from medal contention in the semifinals (after a qualifying run, ski crossers race in groups of four, with the top two advancing to the next round). In her two appearances at the world championships, she finished 10th and 19th.
WATCH | Jared Schmidt makes it 3 wins in a row:
Jared, 26, owned a couple of World Cup bronze medals, but he failed to reach the podium in all 12 of his World Cup starts last season. He finished 10th at the 2022 Olympics and 17th at last year's world championships — his only appearances in the majors.
But Jared has owned the World Cup tour this season almost from the get-go. After failing to make the quarterfinals in the opening competition in France, he won gold the next day at the same venue to kick off his current winning streak.
The sweetest of Jared's three victories came last week in Switzerland. He was in the start area getting ready for the men's final when he heard that three of the four skiers in the women's final had taken each other out in a crash (they were all OK), allowing his sister to cruise to her first-ever gold. When he won the men's final a few minutes later, it marked the first time two siblings had won World Cup ski cross events on the same day.
'It's been a wild ride," Jared said after today's victory, which made him the first Canadian man to win three straight World Cup ski cross golds. "I just needed to find that extra gear and I think I found it.'
"We have the confidence right now, both Jared and I," Hannah said. "We've worked really hard and I think we've proven ourselves."
WATCH | Hannah Schmidt lands on podium in Innichen:
Outside of the Schmidts, the top story of today's races was a return to the top of the podium by Sweden's Sandra Naeslund, who might be the most dominant athlete you've never heard of. Before placing an uncharacteristic fourth and fifth in the past two events, the reigning Olympic and world champion had won an incredible 18 consecutive World Cup starts.
Naeslund and the Schmidts will try for another gold tomorrow on the same course in Innichen, Italy. You can watch the men's and women's events live starting at 6 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
Those platforms are also carrying Friday's men's slalom race in Italy and the moguls events in the country of Georgia, where Canadian star Mikaël Kingsbury will try for his fifth medal in as many starts this season. Here's the full streaming schedule.
