To be a champion alpine skier you to need to race on the world’s most challenging slopes, train hard with the best coaches, be extremely determined and learn from the sports greats.

It just isn’t possible in a country where sand dominates snow. This is why Perth student Greta Small and her parents spend months at a time in Austria. And the commitment is paying off.

This week she was selected to compete at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games (WYOG) taking place from 13 – 22 January 2012 in Innsbruck, Austria, just one hour from her northern hemisphere home. Small’s selection for the event was sealed when she dominated the Australia and New Zealand winter racing this season, beating competitors with years more experience.

“It is really exciting to have my selection confirmed. It was actually on my 16th birthday which made it extra special,” Small said from Pitzal, Austria.

The announcement of the first nine athletes, across five sports on the Australian Team was made by Chef de Mission Alisa Camplin at a Sydney ice rink and all were there except for Small and fellow alpine skier Harry Laidlaw who is based in the USA for the same reasons.

At home in Pitzal, Small’s neighbour is four-time Olympic medallist and Austrian superstar Benjamin Raich who is mentoring her development as an athlete.

“He has taught me a lot about being a great athlete but also being a real person, and a good person,” Small said.

“It is fantastic to be able to check out his Olympic medals and be motivated to get one myself one day.”

Small studies by Schools of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE), managing to squeeze in her schoolwork around a training program that resembles that of a professional.

“This week is our first week on snow after a really tough three-week fitness program in the gym. I’m excited to be heading up to Pitzal glacier for the first time this season. After three weeks here we’ll be in Norway for three weeks then do a couple of races as preparation, another two week training block and then the Opening Ceremony will be here.

“It’s all pretty cool! I can’t wait to race and give it 110 per cent.”

Small is particularly looking forward to the multi-sport environment that only comes with an Olympic Games.

“I’ve never really spent much time with athletes from the different sports; I’ve always been surrounded by alpine. So meeting athletes from ice sports and learning about their training and the skills they need really interests me.”

Born in Wangaratta, Victoria and raised in Albury, Small started as a recreation skier at Mount Hotham with her family and first competed at the Australian Interschools competition without training when she was nine. This gave her a taste so she started to train and the following year she won and was hooked. When she is in Australia her southern hemisphere training base is still Mount Hotham.

Four-time Olympian Zali Steggall has long been Small’s inspiration. Steggall who grew up on the French Alps won Australia’s first individual Winter Olympic medal, winning bronze in the slalom event at the 1998 Nagano Games.

“Zali was really the last Olympian that was up there for the women. I really look up to her.”

“My long term goals are going to the 2013 World Championships and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics,” Small added.

Small was just three-years-old when Steggall won bronze, but no other Australian has won an Olympic alpine skiing medal since then. Perhaps she will be benefit from the Winter Youth Olympics and her Austrian base to be our next.

Approximately 15 young Australians will compete across 11 winter disciplines alongside 1,100 other competitors aged 14-18. The event follows the roaring success of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and the Australian Team will be led by Olympic gold medallist Alisa Camplin as Chef de Mission, and Vancouver Olympian Ramone Cooper as Team Mentor.