Sabrina Wanjiku Simader, Kenya’s first and only Alpine Ski Racer, recently announced her retirement at the age of 27, citing financial difficulties amid abandonment by the Kenyan government.
Born in Kilifi, Kenya, on April 13, 1998, Sabrina grew up in Austria with her Kenyan mother and Austrian stepfather Josef Simader.
She reportedly joined the local ski club and started to compete in local races, slowly winning more and more races.
At age 14, she became the three-time Styrian ski champion, and she and her stepfather started to dream of going to the Winter Olympics as the first African woman.
Sadly, later that year, her stepfather Josef died suddenly from a cardiac arrest, leaving her to fulfill their shared dreams on her own.
Sabrina made history as the first African female alpine skier at the age of 16 at the Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer in 2016, and just a year later became the first African woman to compete on the Alpine Ski World Cup circuit, racing in Maribor, Slovenia, in 2017.
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Her most historic achievement came in 2018 at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where she became the first Kenyan woman and the second Kenyan ever to compete in alpine skiing.
Despite qualifying for the 2026 Milan-Cortina games, Sabrina has announced her decision to retire, citing financial difficulties and abandonment by the Kenyan government.
She alleged that she had not received any institutional backing from Kenyan sports authorities, despite representing the country on the world stage.
“I wear the Kenyan flag with pride, but I sometimes feel like I’m doing it alone. I have struggled to access financial support from my country, and I think it’s time up for me,” Sabrina said in a past interview with Australian media.
She has publicly expressed frustration over the lack of financial support from the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K), stating she has personally spent over Sh12 million to fund her training and competitions over the past 11 years.
Despite the challenges, Sabrina has remained loyal to her country and has won various awards including the African European Sports Woman of the Year (2017), the first Sports Black Austrian Award (2018) winner, and featured in Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 (2019).
She was also appointed UN Environment’s first “Mountain Hero” in 2018, advocating for climate change awareness and biodiversity protection in mountain regions.
