All those countless morning-to-night hours Cassie Sharpe of Comox spent growing up on the slopes of Mount Washington have paid off in the biggest way possible on the biggest stage in sports.
Sharpe, 25, won the gold medal in women’s ski halfpipe Tuesday in Pyeongchang, South Korea to become the first Islander to win an Olympic gold medal in a snow event at the Winter Games.
She follows up on Victoria hockey player Jamie Benn’s gold medal from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Sharpe was totally on form and nailed jump after jump to record a commanding score of 95.80. The best score of three runs in the final is taken. She was the final skier because she led Sunday’s qualifying rounds. When silver-medallist Marie Martinod crashed on her final run, all the Islander had to do was stay upright and the gold medal was hers. Brita Sigourney of the U.S. captured the bronze medal.
“Because if you do well through [qualifying], you can [compete] last, and it’s your victory lap,” Sharpe said.
“It’s the best feeling in the world. I didn’t realize how emotional I was going to be at the top. My coach hugged me and I was about to cry. It doesn’t feel real, yet. So much hard work has gone into this. I’m elated.”
Sharpe is known as a front-runner. If she starts boldly, she rarely lets up, and that was evident on her golden morning.
“On my first run, I just really wanted to land. That’s like my biggest thing for my confidence,”Sharpe told The Canadian Press.
“If I don’t land my first run, I have a hard time coming back from that. So I just really wanted to land my run, and then after that, I was OK.”
There were 10 family members from the Comox Valley cheering Sharpe on to gold in South Korea, including dad Don and mom Chantal.
Sharpe said it wasn’t going to feel real until she saw her family, so she made her way over to them and grasped her dad and mom in long bear hugs.
“Hello, Cassie Sharpe’s dad,” said Don Sharpe, upon answering the phone slopeside in PyeongChang.
“It was so emotional. We had a group hug and a group cry,” said Don Sharpe.
“This is crazy. We never expected this. We told Cassie we were happy and proud she had made it here and to have fun with it.”
Cassie Sharpe did more than just be a woman who wants to have fun. She ripped through the field and left little doubt about who is now the greatest female ski halfpiper in the world. Sharpe had been dropping hints about this stunning breakout by winning two World Cup events this season and last season becoming the first female to land a 720 corkscrew in competition.
It is at moments like this when people harken back to their roots.
“I told [Cassie’s older brother] Douglas this is what you get for sneaking her onto the slopes at Mount Washington when she wasn’t supposed to be on there,” said Don Sharpe, who was director of business operations for Mount Washington for 17 years up to 2017.
The Sharpes’ story at the Olympics is far from over.
Cassie’s younger brother, Darcy Sharpe, was named an alternate for the Canadian team to the Pyeongchang Olympics. The 21-year-old from Comox recently won silver at the Winter X Games in men’s snowboarding slopestyle, so having the Sharpe siblings both competing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is a strong possibility.
It’s all part of the emerging Olympic success story out of Mount Washington, the Island’s lone major ski hill.
A part of that storyline is Spencer O’Brien of Courtenay, who qualified 11th Sunday in the for the 12-boarder women’s big air final at the Pyeongchang Olympics, which is scheduled for Friday.
The event is making its Olympic debut and has given the veteran O’Brien a second chance in Pyeongchang after she was battered about by the howling winds in placing a disappointing 22nd in slopestyle earlier in the Games.
Big air seems a daunting proposition physically.
“You start small and work your way up,” said O’Brien, in a statement. “I’m a total baby and don’t even like jumping off rocks into the water. But you start small and work your way up. Now the integration of air bags into training has really pushed the progression.”
It’s part of the marketing evolution as the Olympics attempt to appeal to a younger generation used to more edgy sporting pursuits.
“It’s special to me to be part of it,” said O’Brien, the 2013 world slopestyle champion.
“It’s an opportunity I never thought I would get in big air. We never even had women’s big air in my career. Everyone is throwing out all the stops and pushing the limits. I can’t wait for the final. I think it’s going to be an absolute insane show.”
The Island is better known for producing Summer Olympians. But Sharpe and O’Brien are among a quartet of Mount Washington-produced Winter Olympians in Pyeongchang.
Making a notable Olympic debut, 22-year-old Teal Harle of Campbell River placed fifth at Pyeongchang in men’s skiing slopestyle as Canada took three of the top-six positions with Alex Beaulieu-Marchand of Quebec the bronze medallist and Evan McEachran from Oakville, Ont., sixth.
“[It] was unreal. I’ve definitely surpassed every expectation I had for the Games,” said Harle, who was cheered on across the Pacific by a watching party in Campbell River.
“Going into it, my goal was just to land a run in qualifications and I made it to finals, so that was insane. I couldn’t be happier with how [it] went.”
Carle Brenneman, 28, of Comox placed 14th in women’s snowboard cross in her Olympic debut.
Cleve Dheensaw/Times Colonist.