Team Canada 2023-2024 snow sport highlights
As the weather warms and snow melts, Team Canada fans will start to turn their attention towards Paris 2024 — but not before we recap some of the incredible moments from this winter sport season, when athletes broke records, topped podiums, and hoisted trophies!
Here are some of our favourite stories across the snow sports:
Moguls
Mikaël Kingsbury lived up to his nickname, “King of Moguls,” yet again this season, reaching the unprecedented accomplishment of notching his 90th career victory. Kingsbury now owns the record for the most World Cup wins by a man in any FIS Olympic discipline. Kingsbury added two Crystal Globes to his collection this season, clinching the dual moguls and overall moguls titles. This brings his career globe count to 26.
The decorated veteran wasn’t the only Canadian moguls athlete to experience success this season. Maïa Schwinghammer, 22, gave herself a nice Christmas present on December 23, winning her first ever World Cup medal with a silver in the dual moguls in Bakuriani. Elliot Vaillancourt, 24, also notched his first World Cup medal, with a silver in moguls in Alpe d’Huez in December. Meanwhile, 21-year-old Louis-David Chalifoux was named FIS Rookie of the Year for men’s moguls.
Ski Cross
There were so many medal moments for Canadian ski cross athletes, it’s hard to know where to begin.
Early in the season, Jared Schmidt went from snagging his first World Cup victory in early December in Val Thorens, France, to securing three in a row. The second gold medal in Arosa, Switzerland stands out as an extra meaningful moment. Not only did Schmidt top the podium, so did his sister and teammate, Hannah Schmidt. Her first ever World Cup victory made them the first siblings to sweep ski cross gold on the same day.
Another special moment came along in March in Veysonnaz, Switzerland when a trio of Canadian women swept a World Cup ski cross podium for the first time in 14 years. Marielle Thompson took the gold, Brittany Phelan the silver, and India Sherret the bronze, sending a clear message about the depth of talent on Team Canada.
Thompson led the way more broadly. Her six victories helped clinch her fourth career Crystal Globe. This was despite taking eight races for the 31-year-old to snag her first win of the season. She proceeded to go on the run of her career, claiming top spot in six of the last nine races. Thompson is a model of longevity on the circuit, having claimed her first Crystal Globe in 2012.
She wasn’t the sole Canadian high in the season’s final standings, though. Phelan finished third overall, followed by Hannah Schmidt in fourth and Sherret in sixth. On the men’s side, Reece Howden finished second overall, with five podiums this season.
All of that success saw Canada secure the Nations Cup, the award presented each year to the country that tops the FIS standings. This is Canada’s third win in a row. Canada has won the Nations Cup 11 times in the 17 years that it has been awarded.
Snowboard Cross
Eliot Grondin had a meaningful finish to an unstoppable season when he received his first career Crystal Globe at Mont-Sainte-Anne, just an hour from where he grew up in Quebec.
Grondin’s dominant season included podium finishes in 10 out of 12 World Cup races, including seven victories. He finished a whopping 348 points ahead of second place in the season standings. The 22-year-old had the Crystal Globe locked up before the final weekend of racing at Mont-Sainte-Anne, but Grondin still went on to pull off a double gold performance in front of the hometown crowd.
Snowboard Slopestyle/Big Air
Liam Brearley made history as the first Canadian to clinch a Crystal Globe in snowboard slopestyle. The 21-year-old was shocked – “I really thought one of the Canadian squad would have done it before me.” – to find out that his win marked a first, considering the talent Canada has boasted over the last 15 years.
Both of Brearley’s gold medals were won in Switzerland–the first in Laax in January and the second in Silvaplana in March. At the Laax World Cup, teammate Cameron Spalding took home the bronze.
Perennial Team Canada favourite Mark McMorris took a step back this season, but still competed at the X Games, winning silver in men’s slopestyle. The 29-year-old holds the Winter X Games record for the most career medals. He is currently recovering from surgery for a broken orbital bone, but McMorris is no stranger to the comeback train, having suffered from several major injuries throughout his career.
Ski Jumping
Canadian ski jumpers soared to success over the course of the season. Twenty-year-old Alexandria Loutitt flew to six individual World Cup podiums this season, including four on normal hills and two on large hills. She also teamed up with Abigail Strate for a silver medal in a super team normal hill event. Loutitt finished third overall in the FIS World Cup standings.
Strate also had a strong season before missing some time with injury. The 23-year-old snagged three straight individual World Cup medals as the calendar turned from 2023 to 2024, two on large hills, one on a normal hill, before adding the silver medal shared with Loutitt in the team event in late January.
Alpine Skiing
Kranjska Gora is Valérie Grenier’s lucky mountain. One year less a day after securing her first World Cup victory there, the 27-year-old defended her win, taking another giant slalom gold for her second career World Cup win.
But her talents extended beyond her favourite event as she skied to a third-place finish in the downhill at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy just 20 days later in January. The podium was a bit more crowded than usual, as Grenier was a part of a historic three-way tie for bronze alongside Austria’s Christina Ager and Italy’s Sofia Goggia.
It was Grenier’s first World Cup podium in a discipline other than giant slalom. Unfortunately, this high was followed by the low of a crash that left Grenier in need of surgery and cut short what was shaping up to be a stellar season.
On the men’s side, Cameron Alexander raced to two World Cup podiums this season. He finished 2023 with a bronze in Bormio, Italy in late December before adding another bronze in February in Kvitfjell, Norway. Also in Kvitfjell, Jeffrey Read secured a silver medal in the super-G for his first career World Cup podium .
Ski Slopestyle/Big Air/Halfpipe
Amy Fraser notched a medal of every colour this season, starting with a bronze in ski halfpipe at Secret Garden in December, followed by gold at Mammoth Mountain in early February and silver in Calgary in mid-February. Fraser finished second overall in the FIS standings for ski halfpipe, behind the dominant Eileen Gu of China.
Canadian teammate Brendan Mackay also snagged a silver in the ski halfpipe in Calgary.
In ski slopestyle, Team Canada athletes took turns climbing onto the podium, with a stream of steady performances throughout the season. Evan McEachran started the season off right with a gold in Stubai in late November, Max Moffatt took a bronze in Laax in January, and Olivia Asselin skied to bronze in Tignes in March.
Aerials
Marion Thénault kicked off her season in style with a World Cup victory at the opener in Ruka, Finland. She flipped her way to a bronze in front of the Canadian crowd in Lac Beauport in February, followed by another gold medal in Almaty, Kazakhstan in March. This medal haul was enough to land her third overall on the FIS standings at the end of the season.
