A Breif History Of The Sport & Our Team

1999 - 2006 Birth of a New Sport

The first Ski Cross event was held in Aspen at the Winter X Games in 1999. Shortly thereafter, the popularity of the sport spread to Europe.

In 2002 Ski Cross was adopted by FIS as a Freestyle event. FIS sanctioning was key to its pathway to the Olympics. At that time the ski manufactureres were very involved in promoting events in Europe while North American events were professional tours and X Games designed to attract a television audience. That year World Cup Series was hosted by FIS and a number of regional tours started in Europe. Sunshine Village Ski Area was an early adopter of Ski Cross and hosted its first professional Ski Cross race in 2002 as part of the X-treme Series (which included motocross events during the summer). This event attracted some of the best racers in North America and over 100 participants. All of Canada’s budding ski cross athletes would participate in this event many getting their first exposure to the event. It was my first exposure to Ski Cross and where I met many of those key individuals that helped shape Ski Cross in Canada. The X-treme tour was held for three years straight at Sunshine Village and broadcast on network television.

The introduction of Boarder Cross in the 2006 Torino Winter Olympic Games was also a pivitol event. Later analysis detrermined this was the event in those winter Games that was the most watched by North American consumers.

Ski Cross That's "MADE IN CANADA!"

Considering the depth of skiing in Canada as a winter sport, Canadian Sports organizations have been slow and reluctant supporters of Ski Cross. In November 2006 following the announcement of Ski Cross as an event in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games a joint task force of Alpine Canada, Canada Freestyle Association, Canadian SnowSports Association and Own the Podium was put together to study whether Canada had potential to put athletes on the podium in 2010. Very little was known about the sport by the task force and they hired Cam Bailey to provide an assessment and three year plan to 2010.

Key to the plan was:

Hire the best people in the world – make sure they were not available to other countries
Provide a Training Environment consisting of the best in the world
Home Field Advantage
First Mover Advantage - Be the first country to create a high performance program and do more to prepare our athletes than any other country could do.

2007/2008 The Inaugural Season

The 07/08 season was the debut of the Canada Ski Cross Team. While many of the athletes had been competitors for years prior, the 07/08 season signified a collective push toward the Olympic Games. The results posted by the team in its first season elevated Ski Cross to one of the highest medal potential winter disciplines in Canada. The Canadian Ski Cross Team was instrumental in securing the Freestyle Nations Cup for Canada and the individual athletes, across the board, posted their most successful seasons to date. Participating on both the World Cup Tour and the Jeep King of the Mountain Tour, the Canadian Team managed to secure 10 podium finishes in 9 competitions on the World Cup and 4 podium finishes in 3 competitions on the Jeep Tour. As well the team managed to take home medals in the X-Games and the European equivalent, the AirWave Games.

2008/2009 The Second Season

The most recent season was unprecedented for a developing Winter Sports Organization. Among the top notable achievements are:

Finished the World Cup season as the top performing nation in the World
Among snow sports, the Canadian Ski Cross Team was also the best performing organization in the Nation.

Notable Athlete Performances this season:

Ashleigh McIvor - Gold - World Championships, Inawashiro, Japan
Stanley Hayer – Gold – Winter X Games
Davey Barr - Bronze - World Championships, Inawashiro, Japan
Chris Delbosco - World Ranking on World Cup Circuit - 2
Kelsey Serwa - Rookie of the Year
Podium Sweep - Men; Gold/Silver - Women at Cypress World Cup (the key test event leading up to the Winter Olympic Games)

2009/2010 Home Field Advantage

It is said that Ski Cross will be the most visible and popular event at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games with at least one Canadian proudly representing their country on the podium. If last year's World Cup test event at Cypress was any inidcation, all expectations are that the Olympic performance will be a home run!