Kai Martin enjoys World Cup debut in green and gold
Published Fri 10 Nov 2023
Australian-born freestyle skier Kai Martin has pledged his allegiance to his country of origin, with a momentous achievement in his international career last month when he made his World Cup debut in Chur, Switzerland.
Since entering the Nor-Am Cup scene in 2018, Martin regularly competed for Canada - his adopted nation - for five years before switching representative countries in 2023.
Born in Sydney, Martin lived in Japan before his family settled in Canada’s British Columbia for his senior schooling but said representing Australia had always been a dream of his.
“At heart, I’m still an Aussie and always kind of felt it would be only right to try and make the move, so when I had the opportunity to ski for Australia this year I jumped at it,” said Martin. “Super stoked to finally be competing for the Aussies.”
Martin’s first outing in the green and gold was fruitful taking out first place in the Men’s Freeski Slopestyle at the Australian New Zealand Cup in August at The Remarkables.
“I didn’t know exactly what to expect coming into the season down under as I’ve never competed outside of North America before so I was super happy with the result,” he said.
Following his success at the Australian New Zealand Cup, Martin lined up for his Freeski Big Air World Cup debut in October finishing in 40th place.
“It was one of my main goals for this season and a dream of mine for a long time,” said Martin. “It was pretty nuts being at the event, a little surreal feeling, especially being a city Big Air in the middle of a whole festival.
“I don’t think it really hit me that I was in it until training and was skiing alongside some of the best in the world. Really looking forward to more.”
The remainder of the World Cup season will be busy for Martin having secured starts in Stubai, Austria and Beijing, China.
“I’m hoping to compete in as many World Cup events as I can,” he said.
“Currently, I’ve got spots for the World Cups in Stubai, Beijing and likely some more throughout the season.
“For this season I’ll be mostly based out of Whistler in Canada for the season and will be training here once they get the park up and running. Later in the season, I’ll likely just follow the snow for whatever’s got the best park at the time. And hopefully, also get a healthy amount of pow skiing and filming mixed in there.”
While Martin will spend the rest of the year abroad he has settled into Australia well, complimenting the facilities on offer.
“I spent some time at the NTSC in Jindabyne which were some of the most beneficial two weeks I’ve had in a while, will definitely be back there come next season.”
