r/SkiRacing

Hello ski racing community,

Please help this momma out. I need to get a race suit for my kid next season. One issue is that she is very tall, but skinny. She was on arctica youth large last year and it is very short on the legs. She hated it because it looks like she was wearing flood pants. It barely covered her boots and she got snow in her legs and boots. We got a hand me down arctica adult S that is absolutely baggy on her. One possible issue here is maybe because we do not know how these race suits are supposed to fit. Is it supposed to be tight to reduce drag? Or is it basically padding in case you crash? She also does competitive swimming and swimming race suit is super skin tight. Therefore, she feels like this adult S arctica is too baggy to wear. But again, no one ever tells us how ski race suit is supposed to fit.

Questions for all you racers.

- How are race suits supposed to fit?

- In swimming world, we kind of know how each brand fits, ie: speedo vs. arena, etc. In the skiing world, is there such thing? What brand should I be looking at for tall skinny person. There is not a store near by where she can try on these different brands.

Thank you very much for the help. I am trying to nail this down before early season training because she absolutely does not want to wear her old one.

My daughter is heading into U14 in ski racing this season - she races slalom and giant slalom, currently competing at the provincial level and within her club. She's absolutely fallen in love with it — not just the racing itself, but the whole process of learning and improving. Ever since she first learned to ski, she's never once changed her mind about wanting to go pro. Even now, whenever someone asks what she wants to be when she grows up, the answer is always the same. She's asked about joining some off-season training camps, but honestly, we're a working-class family and the cost of this sport is already a stretch. The camps we've looked at start around $2,000 USD and up, and that's not even including accommodation or travel. A lot of her gear comes secondhand off Marketplace, and we make it work, but camps are a whole different level of expensive.

Here's the thing though - she could genuinely have a shot at representing her home country one day. We came from a tropical country a few years ago, one without any real winter sports program. Skiing in general is rare where we're from, let alone ski racing at a competitive level. I've personally only seen fewer than 10 maybe athletes ever represent the country internationally in this sport. So the door really is open if she keeps developing — there's just so little competition for those spots. That's part of why we want to find a way to get her into better training, even though it's tight financially.

We're based in Canada. She's part of a local ski club, but I'd rather not go through the club to ask about camps or sponsorships - I'm hoping to find outside resources or programs instead. I've come across some sponsorship programs for ski racers in the US, but most seem to be restricted to US residents only. We'd be willing to travel to the US or EUR or anywhere for camps if she could land a sponsorship there, so I'm not sure if we're missing something or if those really are closed off to us.

I've gotten mixed opinions - some people say U14 is too early to be thinking about sponsorships and structured off-season camps, others told me this is actually the right time to start looking, since she's just entering U14.

So a few questions for anyone who's been through this or knows the ski racing world:

• What types of camps are actually worth it at this age (U14) — technical, fitness, race-specific?
• Are there sponsorship or funding programs open to non-US residents, or Canadian-specific equivalents?
• Any national federations, clubs, or foundations known for supporting young racers from smaller ski nations?
• Is it really too early to start pursuing sponsorship, or is now actually the right window?
• Any tips for working-class families navigating this sport without a big budget?

Any advice, personal experience, or even just pointing us toward the right resources would mean a lot. We just want to give her a real shot at this since she loves it so much.

Haven’t heard much about her plans. Does anyone know if she’s back on snow, any plans for a comeback this season?

After kevin@footloose retired, who’s your new race boot fitter? Any recommendations?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Super excited for her — hoping she wins!!