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Four years after a devastating injury rendered her unable to compete at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Vernon skier Elena Gaskell is looking to redeem herself at the Milano-Cortina Games starting Saturday.
Gaskell, a freestyle skier, will compete for Canada in the slopestyle and big air categories — with slopestyle qualification kicking off Saturday morning.
While technically her Olympic debut, Gaskell had qualified for the games in Beijing four years ago and was a medal favourite.
But the 24-year-old tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus in her knee just one day before what was supposed to have been her first Olympic event.
Canadian freestyle skier Elena Gaskell suffered in knee injury during big air practice, and will no longer be competing at the Beijing Winter Games. She spoke to CBC about the injury and cheering on her teammates.
Four years later — and after weathering another serious injury — Gaskell said there’s understandable jitters going into Milano-Cortina, but she is blocking them out.
“I try and cut out the words of like, ‘Don’t get hurt,’ or, like, ‘try not to get hurt again,'” she told Sarah Penton, host of CBC’s Radio West.
“It’s just like, I’m gonna keep staying healthy. Like, I’m gonna keep moving forward,” the athlete said. “I think progressing [in] your sport, you just have to, like, jump over fear at some points and not think about it.”
After her injury four years ago, during an Olympics that was marked by strict COVID-19 protocols, Gaskell had to stay masked and walk around the Olympic Village in crutches as the rest of the games went on.
“It was like all my dreams and everything that I wanted to happen … it felt like I was living in a movie,” she recalled. “And then all of a sudden the crash happened and I was in pain”.
The skier said she definitely went through a low moment in her life and was depressed after her injury.
But Gaskell said it inspired her to raise awareness about the importance of athletes’ mental health, and she’s come back stronger as a result.
That strength has been reflected in her recent results — Gaskell grabbed a bronze in a World Cup competition in Aspen, Colo., last month.
Megan Oldham of Perry Sound, Ont., won World Cup silver and Elena Gaskell of Vernon, B.C. took Bronze Friday at the freestyle ski slopestyle event in Aspen, Colorado.
But those results were no sure thing. Gaskell only started competing last October, after suffering another ACL tear in her other knee.
She said she feared another low point in her life, and doubts about not coming back had crept in.
“But I think I learned a lot from my first injury and … just thought a lot about my mindset going through my second recovery there,” she said.
“And then, just tried to come on snow this season and just do the best that I could to get back here at the games, and try and have my redemption this time.”
Gaskell isn’t alone at the games this time, though. Her family — including her brother, grandfather and grandmother — are all there cheering her on.
“It was a really tough experience with us not being able to be there [in 2022],” said her father Ken.
“So just makes, you know, all the work she’s done and everything she’s done to recover and get strong and get back to competition that much sweeter.”
Freestyle skier Elena Gaskell is competing in Milano Cortina 2026, and she’s brought along a few of her loudest cheerleaders — her parents, Ken and Holly.
For a full listing of what’s on each day, see the full CBC Olympic streaming schedule.
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