From Belgium to Austria

POZZA DI FASSA – Alpine skiing is not the first sport you would associate with Belgium. Being a citizen of one of the flatter countries in Europe did not deter Kai Alaerts from pursuing his love for Slalom skiing.

Due to the fact that both his parents were ski instructors, it was inevitable that Alaerts would end up being a good skier. So the Belgian had his first race at the age of five, and went from strength to strength after that moment.

As a student at Ghent University in Belgium, it is not easy for him to train. Therefore, while many others may have given up skiing for a whole season, Alaerts has taken a different solution.

He has molded his academic year around the ski season, as he explains, “I can do all my exams in June, so I work from the end of the season up till then and in the summer as well.” Studying sports management does give him some flexibility in this department as his ski training in Austria can make up part of his course.

The season has so far involved races in Norway and Finland, but he has failed to finish on several occasions, which, in his own words, “is not that good as I do not have the confidence to ski a fast time here.”

This is not the Belgian’s first Universiade. Two years ago in Erzurum, he managed to secure a very respectable fifth place, but this time finished fifteenth.

Toby Fisher, FISU Young Reporter