VIDEO: An inside look at Global Racing Ski Team

It’s never been an easy pursuit for a ski racer to accurately describe and represent what their 10-month season looks, feels, and breathes like. Jonas Perkmann and his team bring an accurate representation of the lived athlete experience to life in his recent production for the Global Racing Ski Team. From two minutes a day to execute the perfect run, to the behind-the-scenes preparation and rehabilitation, the video dives into the independent ski racer’s journey.

Global Racing was started in 2013 by American Paul Epstein who created a team he thought was necessary and lacking at the time. His method is simple: gather the men who were kicked off their national teams, those looking to get on national teams, and those from countries that lack a ski federation and combine them together to create the highest level international ski team in the world. Epstein’s approach to the sport is effective for his men’s team: by working closely with his athletes and recreating a race-day environment every day, he will set up his team for success. 

Ski racing is inherently a dangerous sport. This year in particular it was hard to keep track of the long list of season-ending injuries. While humans’ natural tendency is to move away from danger, ski racers inherently push the line of a nervous crash and the perfect turn. For an athlete whose goal is based on balancing power and speed that reduce fractions of a second of time with the danger of a season-ending crash, Perkmann’s team brings life to the camaraderie, hardships, and support that drives the men of Global Racing to pursue their dreams of competing at the top level of the sport.

With athlete perspectives from American Brian McLaughlin, former USST athlete, to Belgian Sam Maes, who lacks a ski federation in his home country, understanding the emotional and physical experience behind a ski racer’s journey is tangibly manifested through the story of Global Racing.

To accurately portray any ski racer’s experience through early morning training days, mentally long race days, and season ending crashes, this film hits the head on the nail showcasing the lived joys and setbacks of the sport expressed through the men of Global Racing.