LARA MARKTHALER –
LARA MARKTHALER –
THE RAINBOW NATION’ S PINK PIONEER
The excitement from her Winter Olympic debut in Milano Cortina 2026 has barely cooled, but for Lara Markthaler, the pink-haired pioneer of South African skiing, the real work is only just beginning.
Markthaler celebrated her 19 th birthday on the slopes in Italy, where she finished 39 th in her main event, Slalom, and 47th in Giant Slalom, and is still processing the " whirlwind " of her first Games.
“ Overall, the vibes were amazing at the Olympic Games, so many athletes, so much energy, and it was amazing to see.
" There are so many impressions that I still have to process... I think after the season ends, I just need two weeks of just sleeping... to process everything that ' s happened," she said on a recent trip to South Africa.
But sleep is a luxury she isn ' t taking yet, flying straight back to her base in Italy. Her season doesn ' t end until May, with another 10 races on the calendar.
Markthaler knows she’ s something of a curiosity in the ski world – the first South African female skier at a winter Olympics, representing a country better known for its surf than its snow. But she’ s using that platform to prove that snow sports aren ' t just for the Alpine nations.
" My dad was a skier and I ' ve been doing it my whole life, and it ' s just so special,” she explained.
While Markthaler’ s father and coach, Christian, is German, it’ s her mother who provides the South African connection.
“ She grew up in Durban. I have all of my family in Durban and also here in Joburg, in Cape Town, and Stellenbosch,” explained the talented teen, who also excelled in downhill mountain biking before settling on skiing as her sport of choice.
“ I also have a German passport, but I have basically all of my family in South Africa, and so I just feel very connected to South Africa and the people here, and I love the mentality, and that ' s why I wanted to represent South Africa and put them onto the winter sports map.”
Apart from her Team SA gear, Markthaler is easy to spot on the slopes, with her pink hair.“ I ' ve had pink hair since I was 12 years old …
That was in the time when my Instagram started growing and … it kind of grew into my signature look and now a lot of people still recognise me by my pink hair because it also hangs out of the back of my helmet, so I ' m recognisable everywhere, also in my ski gear.
“ I think in South Africa, we ' re a colourful country and we ' re allowed to be colourful, and I love also having my pink hair and expressing myself in that way.”
As she wraps up this season and looks to the next, Markthaler’ s Olympic experience has fired her up for even more success.
“ I’ m very, very, very hungry … Next winter, we have the World Championships. The last World Championships, I achieved 29 th place, which was the best result for a South African female, which was very special, and so we ' ll see at the next World Championships again what will happen, but I ' m very excited and we give our best. That ' s all we can do.”
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