Mikayla Smyth was selected to the NZ Development Team in 2022. She represented New Zealand at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Panorama 2022.
Mikayla learnt to ski with her parents at Coronet Peak when she was four years old. Her first competition was at Coronet Peak during the school holidays when she was seven years old. Skiing in the QAST holiday program was something Mikayla did for fun during the winter holidays. At the end of the two week holiday program there was a combi race and she competed for the very first time.
From here Mikayla has continued to develop as a ski racer, competing in FIS, University and National Championship races both here in New Zealand and in North America. She competed in the FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Panorama, Canada this year where she finished in 35th in Slalom.
One of Mikayla's most memorable moments skiing was when she was in Zagreb competing in one of the international children's races. The day prior she had placed second in the slalom so she was ready to attack the GS and she ended up winning which was a really cool moment for her. She explains "the funny part was when it was time for prize giving they started giving out boxes of apples to the top 5 racers and I ended up leaving Zagreb with 8 boxes of Croatian apples, I remember driving back to Italy with a van full of apples wondering what I could possibly do with all these apples!?"
Mikayla aspires to race at the World Cup level someday and her main goal is to reach her full potential in skiing and see wherever that takes her. Mikayla's biggest dream would be to compete at the Winter Olympics.
When Mikayla is not skiing her biggest hobby is reading (at least two books a week) and she also loves cooking especially with friends and family.
