Just five years ago, the thought of Calle Eriksson competing for Canada at the Paralympics would have been unthinkable.
Now he can simply leave Milan Cortina as the country's top medalist.
“I'm excited. I'm nervous. That's really the only thing I'm thinking about right now,” Eriksson said. “So it's a big deal.”
Eriksson, a visually impaired Paralympic skier, will head to Italy for the Paralympics, which run March 6-15 live on CBC, with multiple podium finishes in sight.
Yes, this is partly the story of a man who turned his life around, qualified for the Paralympic Games and turned to sport as fuel.
But it's also the story of an amateur skier who learns to love competing through an unlikely partnership and family connection.
“I think it’s a stupid thing to say because a lot of people say it, but it’s true,” Eriksson prefaced on what a Paralympic medal could mean.
“A lot of blood and tears have gone into where we are today. And so seeing how it all pays off in the long run, it's hard to look at now. But I know that if that moment does happen, it will really be a feeling of like, 'OK, it was worth it.'
In 2021, Eriksson was hanging out at the top of a ski hill with his father Lasse Eriksson, Canada's longtime Paralympic World Cup team coach.
Eriksson Jr. was only there to help out in training camp, helping with administrative work such as recording start times. He was not wearing sunglasses or glasses.
After about 24 hours, he began to notice some vision loss. Then it got even worse. Ericsson went to the hospital and was diagnosed with welder's flash, an inflammation of the cornea caused by overexposure to ultraviolet light. He was told it would go away in a week or two.
Nothing has changed. Ericsson turned to a specialist.
“He basically told me that I would be legally blind for the rest of my life,” Eriksson said. “The sun reflecting off the snow actually burned a hole right into my retina. Almost like looking up during a solar eclipse.”
Up until this point, Eriksson had never been drawn to competitive skiing.
Instead, he preferred to do it with friends.
“Walking, hanging out, skiing, whatever we want. Maybe go have a few beers on the hill, whatever,” he said.
I could try to drive it
But a year after the incident, Eriksson received a call from the Alberta visually impaired ski team asking if he would like to join.
“What the hell? Why not?” Ericsson replied. “I've been skiing all my life. I might as well go and try racing.” [Then, I] I kind of fell in love with him right away.”
Ericsson intended to leave for only two weeks. However, after the third day, he had already found his niche, beating those who had been doing it much longer than him.
International success came almost immediately. In the 2024–25 World Championship season, Eriksson won 10 medals, including a pair of golds, one of which came on the Paralympic Mountain in Cortina. He added two silver medals at the world championships in slalom and giant slalom.
Canadian paraglider Calle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith talk about their silver medal success at the World Para Sports Championships and tell CBC Sports' Brittany McLean what their training process looks like.
The 21-year-old from Kimberley, British Columbia, returned to the slopes this fall but suffered a shoulder injury during a training camp in Chile, causing him to miss the first world championships of the season. He is set to make his debut at the second world championship, which begins on Monday in Santa Caterina, Italy.
Outside of everyday life – he began losing his sight at the same time he was learning to drive and was forced to adapt to using public transport, for example with the help of friends – Ericsson's biggest change came on the slopes.
The life of a competitive skier was somewhat foreign to him. Then in Calgary he found former Team Canada skier Sierra Smith to serve as his guide.
It was a partnership that was an immediate success.
“None of us had any idea what we were doing. We just thought, 'OK, well, I guess now I ski in front of you and you follow and we'll see what happens,'” Smith recalls. “And we did, and literally right after the first run we were like, 'Oh my God, this is pretty cool.'
Good trust and friendship
Smith, a 25-year-old Ottawa native, has been competing internationally since 2016, mostly in lower-level competition.
She was just helping the Paralympic team when Eriksson came to Calgary, and the pair, she says, “kind of fell into our laps.”
Now Smith is Eriksson's eye during competition. They communicate through a headset, and Smith sends signals to Ericsson to help him stay on course.
Communication is critical.
“No matter what sport you do, you have to trust your teammates. But in our sport, especially in VI racing, she has to trust me to be safe behind her and I have to trust her to get me down the hill safely. And so I think just having good trust and being good friends with each other is a big part of it,” Eriksson said.
To this end, Ericsson and Smith spend a lot of time together away from the slopes to build their relationship.
Activities include mountain biking, rock climbing and even line dancing, which was a weekly Thursday tradition in Calgary.
Smith also helped Eriksson maintain his competitive spirit.
“From someone who didn't ski racing to where he is now… it's really impressive,” she said.
Eriksson said racing was a “different mentality” than the regular skiing he did with his friends.
“Putting on ski boots to go to a competition was a strange feeling for me compared to putting on ski boots to go out and relax, if you will,” he said.
However, now Eriksson and Smith's desire to win burns brightly. The Paralympics – and perhaps a few podium attempts – beckon.
“It would be a surreal feeling for me,” he said. “We're moving pretty quickly and I feel like this will be the icing on the cake for Sierra and I.”
