At the Winter Olympics, a Mom and Her Teen Son —Both Skiers — Are Set to Make History

This week in Italy, Sarah Schleper and her teen Lasse Gaxiola, 18, will make history by becoming the first mother and son to compete in the same Winter Olympics.

“This is hard to believe,” Schleper told the Associated Press. “It’s just a fantasy story.”

It’s a touching full-circle moment, coming almost 15 years after Schleper picked up her then-tiny boy and carried him down the slalom course at her final World Cup before retiring from the U.S. ski team in 2011, which was captured in a joyful photo.

Now Schleper, 46, will compete in her seventh Winter Olympics — her third representing Mexico, after gaining citizenship in her husband’s native country — and Gaxiola will compete in his first. Schleper told the AP she screamed with joy when he officially earned his spot.

She may not be able to watch his giant slalom run in person, as it will take place in Bormeo, about four hours from Cortina, where Schleper will be racing the Super G and giant slalom. But she told the AP she hopes to “bust a ride over to Bormio” to join him and her husband, who is their son’s coach.

Either way, they will be the first such pair to compete in the same Winter Games, as Olympic historian Bill Mallon told the AP.

“She’s a lot more patient than me,” Gaxiola said about how his skiing differs from his mom’s. “I have maybe a little different style but she’s definitely molded me. She’s definitely the base of influence.”

He said he hardly remembers the day his mom carried him down the slalom, as he was barely 4, and added that now, he has “just so many emotions being here with my family and everything. It’s crazy. It’s awesome.”

When they both qualified, “we had a week of training together before we split to our respective Olympic cities, that felt really special,” Schleper, who turns 47 on Feb. 19, told the New York Times. “We were training together, and we were trying to beat each other, so that was pretty fun. It feels iconic.”