World record speed skier Simon Billy describes ‘crazy feeling’ of traveling over 158 mph downhill
(CNN) — When he squeezes into his bright red ski suit and puts on his Darth Vader-esque helmet, speed skier Simon Billy hears nothing and sees very little.
Despite almost losing two of his senses, the Frenchman has one goal on his mind – to simply go as fast as he can on two skis down a breathtakingly steep hill.
Speed skiers regularly go at speeds over 120 mph in competition and Billy is currently the best to ever do it; in fact, no one in the world has ever traveled faster on land without mechanical assistance.
For perspective, the World Air Sports Federation states that the terminal speed of the human body freefalling in a stable, head down position is between 240 and 290 km/h (149.13 and 180.2 mph) – speed skiers, then, are effectively plummeting through the sky.
“The feeling is just crazy. It’s about freedom, just pushing the limits. For sure, every speed skier wants to be, one day, the world record holder. It was my dream,” he tells CNN Sports.
That dream came true in 2023, when Billy recorded a speed of 255.500 km/h (158.760 mph), on the slopes in Vars, France. His new standard also eclipsed one of the previous records of 243.902 km/h that was set by his father, Philippe, in 1997.
But this adrenaline-fueled winter sport, which demands both physicality and a rock-solid mindset, will not feature at next month’s Winter Olympics in Italy.
In fact, it’s only ever been a showcase event at the Winter Olympics once before, debuting at the Games in 1992 and proving a hit at the time.
With the Games heading to France in 2030, there is work underway to include this astonishing sport into the schedule, but Billy says the speed skiing community is also content with its current position.
“It would be a bonus for us to be at the Olympics because as an athlete, for sure, I want to be at the Olympics one day. It’s like a dream for us,” he says.
“But if we are not, it’s okay because we still have this adventure to be the fastest skier in the world. The most important thing in this sport is the world record. I’d prefer to have a world record than a gold medal at the Olympics.”
Lifetime ambition
How exactly Billy earned a world record is a culmination of a lifetime of hard work and a family effort which taps into decades of experience.
Being raised in the French Alps meant Billy was brought up in the outdoors. Skiing became second nature as he spent his childhood watching his own father push his limits as a world-class speed skier.
Over the years of being surrounded by this niche community, Billy developed his own ambition in the sport – he wanted to become the world record holder.
That, though, takes time. First, you have to be physically ready to deal with the extreme pressure on your body when you’re going so fast. That requires plenty of strength training in the gym, with the aim of getting strong and heavy, but not too big as to limit your own aerodynamics.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, it takes a while to train your mind. That, it seems, is more innate.
Watch a video of Billy speed skiing and you’ll understand why the sport is as much a feat of combatting fear as anything else.
During his world record run, Billy sounded like a train hurtling down a track. Blink and you’ll miss him. It’s so astonishing that Billy never watches speed skiing live, worried it might scare him off from pushing his own limits.
But while the energies at play look so violent and explosive from the outside, Billy says he’s very much at peace behind his helmet.
“You just feel your body going down the hill. You feel the speed in your feet on the skis. This feeling is like a drug for us,” he says, explaining what’s it like when he’s reaching top speed.
“When I am in my helmet, on my skis, at that moment, everything is just so slow around me. I hear nothing.
“I don’t see anything either … if you watch where you have to go, then you have to put your head up, and you are slow. And when you put your head down, you don’t watch where you ski.
“You have to watch your feet and trust yourself. You have to know the track, and you have to be able to ski down and take the good line.”
Horror crash in 2017
But the line between a peaceful run and disaster is razor thin in a sport which deals with such high speeds – and no one knows this more than Billy. In 2017, the Frenchman suffered a horrendous crash while speed skiing.
Video footage of the incident shows Billy’s leg slightly slipping as he plunged down the slope. At that speed, any misstep can spell disaster and the Frenchman totally lost control as he came crashing down the snow.
The result was severe. Billy broke multiple bones around his body and spent eight months in a rehab center before being able to function properly again on skis. It was an all too familiar story within the tight-knit speed skiing community and was a learning curve for the young athlete who now understands the need to respect every slope he steps foot on.
“I was so scared after this crash, I wanted to stop speed skiing because I didn’t see the point of putting myself in danger like this just to catch my dream,” he admitted.
But those feelings slowly dissipated and Billy said he felt a “wave” come over his body while in hospital which encouraged him to get back to the sport he loved.
His return to the slopes was very much a family effort. Not only was his father a world-class speed skier but his younger brother also loves the sport and the family works together to get the best out of Billy. The family also runs a business together and any success on or off the slopes is very much a team achievement.
The family outfit works hard on improving Billy’s technology. The outfits that speed skiers wear are all designed in the name of aerodynamics and each space-like suit is specifically tailored for the athlete that uses it.
The same can be said for the extra-long skis and efficiently designed ski poles.
Billy and his team spend years tinkering with different elements, testing the equipment in wind-tunnels and even using their own 3D-printer to develop state-of-the-art equipment.
But even with the very best of kit, it all really comes down to the athlete behind the helmet.
Breaking the world record
Before a big competition, Billy says all speed skiers are slightly nervous and, in truth, how could you not be? But when he stands on top of the hill and the helmet helps block out the world, it’s all about focusing for the matter of seconds it takes to zip down the slope.
Once it’s all over and he slowly puts on the brakes, Billy says he often still feels on top of the world – notably after breaking the world record two years ago in what he calls the “best day of my life.”
“I watched everyone and I realized I just broke the record,” he says. “At that moment, the feeling in my body was crazy. I just took a few seconds to enjoy it alone in my helmet before taking it off.
“The emotion during those two or three minutes was crazy.”
Whether or not speed skiing does become part of the Olympic program in the future, Billy still has his ultimate goal: to break the world record again.
“Now, my objective is to be the first man to break 260 km/h (161.56 mph) and I know we will do it because I felt during my record run that the limit was still far away,” he says, defiantly.
“That’s my new dream and objective in this sport now, and that’s why I wake up in the morning and train.”
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