After spending the better part of a year recovering from a major injury, Squamish's Cassie Sharpe is ready to compete in the Beijing Olympics.
Speaking on Feb. 3, Sharpe, who moved to the Garibaldi Highlands last year, said she was happy to be back on the slopes after recovering from a torn ACL, MCL and fractured femur.
The 29-year-old is the reigning female freestyle skiing halfpipe champion, having captured the gold during the 2018 winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
However, this time around, Sharpe said her mindset is in a different place.
"I went into the last Olympics with so much pressure on my shoulders, people thinking I was a shoo-in to win and that kind of pressure was really challenging to deal with," she said.
"Going into this Olympics, as, I guess you'd say, reigning gold medallist, there's a different kind of pressure. [I'm] coming back from this knee injury and feeling very calm about it all. I know that I have the ability to be on the podium. But with everything I've gone through in the last 12 months, I'm kind of just at peace going to the Olympics, having a ton of fun, being with my friends, competing on the world stage and seeing where that gets me."
2021 was filled with big life changes for Sharpe.
First was the injury, which happened almost exactly a year ago.
"I was trying a 1260 at the X Games, and I just went a little big and rotated a little fast," said Sharpe.
"When you're in the halfpipe, the halfpipe wall is 22 feet. And when you go big, you're probably going another 10 feet out. So you think about jumping off of a two-storey building to concrete and that is how I did that."
That incident set the stage for a long recovery.
Sharpe said it was very challenging, especially during COVID.
She put in a lot of hours with her trainer, her specialist, and others in order to get back on her feet. This included local physiotherapist Maggie Scarlett, who she credited as playing a big part in her recovery.
At the same time, a lot was changing in her life. She got married. She bought a home. She got a dog.
"It's just all those behind the scenes things that really got me here," Sharpe said.
There was perhaps one moment when she realized that all the hard work had paid off, and that she had a chance at the Olympics.
"I think that was in October when I flew out to Europe and clipped into my skis for the first time in Switzerland. And I was on very strict back-to-snow protocols. I wasn't allowed in the halfpipe for the first week, probably," said Sharpe.
"But as soon as I clipped my skis and did a bunch of turns, I knew it was definitely a possibility."
She said it felt good — almost as if she had never left the slopes.
Sharpe, however, will still be wearing a knee brace when she competes, though she said it's not uncommon for about half of the people in her sport to be wearing some sort of brace or recovering from some sort of injury.
She's expected to fly out to Beijing on Feb. 9.
From what she's heard, she'll be in an athletes' village, which will serve as a COVID-free bubble during the Games.
As a result, it's unlikely she'll be able to go visit big landmarks like the Great Wall, but from what she's seen on social media from other athletes, the village seems to be a pleasant place.
Sharpe said to check @freestylecanadaski on Instagram to find her competition schedule.
