Canada’s Cassie Sharpe soars into women’s ski halfpipe final

For Sharpe, her victory run wasn’t everything she hoped for. While she witnessed others struggle to impress the judges, Sharpe gave a performance during the first run that was reminiscent to her qualifying run. (She won the silver medal in that discipline in Sochi.) This will be her first time competing at the Olympics in halfpipe.

“I wanted it more this time. He’s a guy that’s stone cold, you never really know how he feels”, she said. “And we managed to take a couple of hundredths off the push too and we definitely needed it”, he said. Her boyfriend, Justin Dorey – a former national team skier who grinned and said he’s “living vicariously through her” – said Sharpe expected to be leading this thing from start to finish. But, she still wasn’t done. “But I just focused on my skiing and I knew what I had to do”.

The French Marie Martinod and the American Brita Sigourney round off the podium.

It came as Canada’s Cassie Sharpe dominated her rivals with the two best runs of the final to soar to the gold medal. She came here as the favourite for gold. I was there when Maddie won gold at the last Olympics and she was there for me today.

Despite several skiers having 1080s in their arsenals, Sharpe was the only woman to spin the rare trick. Six years later, however, her legacy is secure. According to her U.S. Ski and Snowboard bio, she enjoys a variety of activities including mountain biking, hiking, wakebording and backpacking.

“It shows why she’s doing it. It’s go, go, go”, she said.

Johannes Lochner and Francesco Friedrich are considered by many as the most dynamic team in the event, and the pair are part of the country’s four-man bobsleigh world champions.

The Canadian vintage of 2018, led by Hawaiian-born Justin Kripps, went in the final run to snatch a place alongside the Francesco Friedrich-piloted German duo at the top of the podium.

“Helloooo”, she said, with a big grin, leaning and sweeping across all the tape recorders in front of her.

“Those beds are rocks”, the 25-year-old said, grinning, of the mattresses in the athlete’s village.

“If you do well, then you drop last in your victory lap”, Sharp said “Which is the best feeling in the world”.

Fellow Canadian freestyle skier Roz Groenewoud, who was competing with a broken arm, finished 10th with a score of 70.60. “That’s the best skiing I’ve done all season”.

Canadian freestyle skiing pioneer Sarah Burke successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include the halfpipe event in the Olympic program for the first time at Sochi 2014 before tragedy struck.

Sharpe is deeply competitive in a way that can only be honed from a young age growing up with and trying to outdo two brothers. Instead she fell in love with freeskiing. “It’s an incredible event, and she’s gone through so many injuries, and she really perseveres”. She would return to the slopes a year later in 2016 and continue her success. “She entered the worldwide halfpipe scene in 2011 while still in high school and made her first World Cup podium with a bronze at Mammoth Mountain, Calif., in 2012”.