On finding the sport

I started ski touring and backcountry skiing in high school. I loved how it combined physical fitness but also has this other element of needing to know a lot about the environment, the terrain and the conditions.The fact that it requires a lot of knowledge and constant reassessing is a special part of it. It’s also not really an individual activity. It’s better to go out with a group for safety. Then, with my running background, I had a lot of fitness and enjoyed the competition side of things. I was hesitant to compete year-round, and that’s why I didn’t start competing in ski mountaineering seriously until about 2023, which was when I had my first international competition.

On what the competition is like

It’s the first year of the sport being included in the Olympics, so there are very limited numbers of how many people can go. For the mixed relay discipline, which is the team where there’s one male and one female [each], only 12 teams can go. Essentially, if you’re ranked in the top, maybe 10, you can go. There are also continental spots [for the top-ranked relay team from each continent]. Right now, we’re essentially head-to-head with the Americans.

On the importance of representation

Being a female [in the Winter Olympics] would be a nice chance to tell a story of pushing something and going through adversity. Representing a new sport at the Olympics could be special, just to provide an opportunity to hopefully give back and get the next generation thinking about this sport. I see it as a cool opportunity for representation. I care less about results. I do think it’s human nature to enjoy when we can be good at something, but that’s not what drives me. I hope to create those good results, but less attached to my name and more attached to being a female, or even a Canadian female, or someone who is built smaller but can still do these big things. That’s my goal. Also, because it is a winter sport where we require snow, there’s also the larger talk about environmental changes. This is a good chance to share that story and concern — and explore what actions we can all take.