C‘is who accompanies the children to school and who, instead, accompanies them down one slalom track in full World Cup. For Sarah Schleper, 46 years old, seven Olympics behind, it alpine skiing it’s not just a career: it’s one family history. And at the Games Milan Cortina 2026 that story will write a new one Olympic page, never seen before: Sarah and her son Lasse Gaxiola, 18, will both compete for Mexico. They will be there first mother-son duo to compete in the same edition of the Winter Olympic Games.
From America to Mexico, without ever leaving the track
Daughter of a ski shop owner Vail, ColoradoSchleper represented the United States in four Olympicsstarting from Nagano 1998. Then the turning point: the marriage to Federico Gaxiola de la Lamathe Mexican citizenship and one second sporting life with the colors of Mexico since 2014 (worn at Pyeongchang 2018 And Beijing 2022).
TO Milan Cortina 2026 here she is again at the gate. With a further record: the He will turn 47 on February 19th and it will become there oldest alpine skier ever at the Olympic Games. And there grit is intact. «I want to push myself to the limit, go fast. Be like Lindsey Vonn, without fear», he said in the days before the races The Athletics. Because, he says, the courage is doing things even when you are afraid.
That descent with Lasse in my arms
There is an image that is very powerful today. December 2011last season in the World Cup with the US team. Sarah wear a brown dressstops at the edge of the track, picks up his son three year old child And goes down the slalom course with him. A gesture symbolicAlmost playful. Nevertheless prophetic. «I was pretty much the only mom on the circuit», he continues to tell in the interview for the sports section in New York Times.
«The fact that today we are still here, together, sharing this passion is something unique». The idea wasn’t even hers, but her husband’s. With the green light from the organizers, thetrainer took Lasse halfway down the track. She took him and finished the descent with him in her arms. Today that child has 18 years old and it’s a Olympic athlete.
Sarah Schleper with Lasse Gaxiola (3 years old) during the Alpine Skiing World Cup in Austria
Training together, challenging each other seriously
Before dividing between Cortina d’Ampezzo – where Sarah will compete in super-G and giant – And Bormiohome of the men’s trials in which Lasse will face giant and slalommother and son shared a week of Olympic training. «We were trying to beat each other» says Schleper. For Lasse, al Olympic debutthat image from 2011 belongs to the past but tells of its future. Raised in white circusbefore he was even one year old he had already visited twelve countriesfollowing her mother in World Cup world tour.
Being a mother, remaining an athlete
There motherhood in alpine skiing means awake at dawn, fingers frozen on the side of the track, kilometers clocked up between one race and another. But for Sarah Schleper it means above all to have demonstrated that there is no single time for women in sport. He left the American team sensing that a new generation – that of Mikaela Shiffrin – was coming. Today, a 46 years oldshe’s not just an athlete who continues to compete. She is a mother who shares the Olympic dream with his son. And in that crossroads of tracks between Cortina and Bormiothere is much more than a race: there is a new idea of family, sport and time that passes without extinguishing the passion.
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