For South Africans it takes getting used to given it’s the height of summer down here, but the Youth Winter Olympics have officially started in Gangwon, South Korea, and Saturday afternoon’s weather was a forecast of snow showers. That’s to go with a temperature which maximises at a brisk -1 deg C.
Team SA has one representative at these Games, the 16-year-old Lara Markthaler, who takes to the snow for the first time in competition on Sunday, when she lines up in the Women’s Super G alpine skiing event.
On Friday night, local time, the German-based teenager took part in the Opening Ceremony at the Gangneung Oval and beamed as she carried the South African flag. On Saturday she put on her game face again and concluded her final preparations ahead of the biggest week of her life.
Markthaler will be competing in four events at these Youth Winter Olympics, all to be held at Jeongseon, which is a county in the province of Gangwon-do. The weather is forecast to get colder.
On Sunday the temperature will peak at zero but drop to -11 deg C, on Monday the high is -8 deg C and the low is -19 deg C. However, Tuesday, when the women’s giant slalom is being held, is a terrifying (for a South African) -12 deg C maximum, with a low of -19 deg C.
This is her programme for the upcoming days:
21 Jan: Women’s Super G
22 Jan: Women’s Alpine Combined Slalom
23 Jan: Women’s Giant Slalom
24 Jan: Official training
25 Jan: Women’s Slalom