Five new faces to look for in freestyle skiing and snowboard at Beijing 2022
There will be lots of new faces in the snow parks for Team Canada at Beijing 2022 this winter.
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for these first-time Olympians in snowboard and freestyle skiing.
Brooke D’Hondt
The youngest athlete on Team Canada, Calgary’s Brooke D’Hondt is preparing for her first Olympic halfpipe competition at 16 years old. Just two years ago, the Canadian made her debut at the Aspen X Games when she was 14. Later that year, D’Hondt broke her humerus during a training camp in Mount Hood, Oregon and had to undergo surgery. But she made her comeback and competed in her first FIS World Cup event in January 2021. She then made her second straight appearance at the X Games in Aspen, followed by her FIS World Championships debut.
Liam Moffat
Nova Scotia’s Liam Moffat learned to ski when he learned to walk, but by the age of seven, he found a greater passion in snowboarding. Now, at 24, he’ll represent Canada in snowboard cross at Beijing 2022. At the 2021 FIS World Championships, Moffatt finished eighth in both the individual and team snowboard cross events.
Édouard Therriault
Édouard Therriault is joining the Olympic squad to compete to ski slopestyle and big air. Therriault recently landed on his first World Cup podium in Font-Romeu, France where he won a slopestyle bronze medal. Last year, he won silver in the big air competition at World Championships. In 2019, he also reached the podium at Junior World Championships, where he won a slopestyle gold.
READ: Édouard Therriault skis to first World Cup podium in France
Marion Thénault
It’s hard to believe Marion Thénault only took up freestyle skiing in 2017, when she was spotted at RBC Training Ground. Since then, Thénault has made quite a name for herself on the aerials World Cup circuit, soaring to three World Cup podiums in the past two years. Last season, she won her first career World Cup medal with a third place finish in Moscow, followed by a gold medal in Kazakhstan. After a stellar 2021 season, she was named the 2021 FIS Freestyle Rookie of the Year and placed third overall in aerials on the World Cup tour. Just a few weeks ago, the Quebec native earned her third World Cup podium on home snow in Lac Beauport.
READ: Marion Thénault soars to silver in Quebec
Arnaud Gaudet
Arnaud Gaudet is a snowboarder from Montcalm, Quebec. At just 21, Gaudet already has quite the resumé: a bronze medal in parallel giant slalom at the 2020 Junior World Championships and three straight overall titles on the Nor-Am Cup circuit. Now, Gaudet is determined to add Olympic medallist to the list.
The first snowboard events at Beijing 2022 will be the women’s and men’s slopestyle competitions taking place February 5-7 at Genting Snow Park in the Zhangjiakou Zone. Genting Snow Park will also be the same location for the PGS (February 8), halfpipe (February 9-11), and SBX events (February 9-12). Freestyle skiing will begin on February 3 and wrap up February 19.
It’s off to the races for these five new faces. Let the anticipation begin!
