Medal success came as a surprise to Eábha McKenna, more so than anyone else.
Last week the Wicklow native, aged 17, won a pair of gold medals skiing for Ireland at under-18 level during the Junior World Championships in France. Tuesday saw victory in the Super G event, Wednesday’s gold was in the Downhill.
“I absolutely was not expecting it,” says McKenna of her success. “It was at under-18, so there were not too many competitors but it’s still a big deal to me.
“It’s my first ever junior world championships. I’m very happy.”
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McKenna followed that up by finishing seventh among U18s in the Slalom. Despite the results, she says the more technical Slalom events, based less on speed and more on short, sharp turns, are her preferred races.
Her mother would agree, given the difficultly watching her daughter in the faster Downhill events which feature jumps and, inevitably, more crashes.
“My mum gets very nervous,” laughs McKenna. “Downhill races like Super G she can’t watch until she knows from someone else that I’ve made it down safely. A few years ago I broke my nose, but that’s it in terms of injuries.”
McKenna lived in Clara Vale, Co Wicklow, until the age of four when she moved to Switzerland with her parents. She now lives in Beckenreid, an hour south of Zurich.
“I don’t remember too much,” she says of her time in Ireland. “I remember deer being around in our house in Wicklow. One day in the driveway, after it snowed in Wicklow, I put on plastic skis but that doesn’t really count. I started skiing properly once I moved to Switzerland. I was put in ski school and joined a ski club. But ski clubs only do training until under-16 then you have to sign up for different teams.”
After introducing her to the sport, McKenna’s parents contacted the Irish authorities once she started to show promise. She was quickly registered to race at an under-14 event in Andorra. “I was the obvious choice to ski for Ireland,” she says.
I’m training very irregularly, at the weekends and then one afternoon a week
Training can be tricky given McKenna’s age. She has another year of school remaining after this academic year, while at present she is not a member of a particular team.
Instead, support comes from the Irish snowsport governing body. She has recently been at two training camps, one in Argentina, the other in Austria, run by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation for smaller nations in snowsports.
“Average skiers would be training five days a week. I’m training very irregularly, at the weekends and then one afternoon a week. This year my school have been good, they’ve let me take a lot of time out for the Youth Olympics Festival and the Junior Worlds. I need to catch up on schoolwork!”
At the Youth Olympics in South Korea, only a week before competing in France, McKenna competed in the Slalom, Super G, Giant Slalom and Alpine Combined, setting a number of personal best times.
Inevitably after success, the question turns to what’s next.
In the short term, McKenna highlights the Irish championships coming up this year as well as the need for extra training and support. “Finding a team would be a big step,” she says. “It’s not easy when I’ve got school. I got some funding from the Olympic Federation [of Ireland] at the end of last season, which was very helpful. The rest is self-funded, I am looking for sponsors.
“A set of skis can be a good €500, it depends on which skis. They’re not cheap.”
Long term, a gap year after finishing school, university and, of course, the biggest event in the sport all earn a mention.
“There are not so many Irish female skiers but those that are there are better than me. But the next goal would definitely be the Olympics for 2026. I’m not at the top of the list for that.”
Not for now, but McKenna has two years to move into contention. Recent underage medals could well turn out to be just the first step of her Olympic journey.
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