Elena Gaskell will get a second crack at the Olympic Games.
The Vernon skier has been officially named to Canada’s freestyle skiing slopestyle/big air team that will compete at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy Feb. 6 to 22.
Freestyle Canada made the official announcement on social media Tuesday, Jan. 20.
Joining Gaskell on the Olympic squad are Megan Oldham of Parry Sound, Ont.; Naomi Urness of Mont-Tremblant, Que.; Olivia Asselin from Lac Beauport, Que; Dylan Deschamps of Quebec City; and Evan McEachran from Oakville, Ont.
McEachran won bronze at a World Cup event in Laax, Switzerland on the weekend of Jan. 17 to 18 while Gaskell was the lone Canadian in the women’s field, and placed fifth.
Gaskell was coming off a bronze-medal result the weekend prior at a World Cup event in Aspen, Colo. Oldham was second.
Gaskell, 24, was named to the Canadian Olympic team in 2022 for Beijing, China. She took part in the Opening Ceremonies, but suffered torn knee ligaments on the final day of training, and was unable to compete.
She returned to snow in January 2023 and rejoined the national team for summer training camps at which she worked on getting her tricks back. But before she could return to competition, adversity struck again in January 2024.
Gaskell took a hard fall in training that resulted in another torn ACL and meniscus as well as a fractured tibia and cartilage damage. She underwent another surgery and started rehab once again, a tough mental process as well as a physical one.
In November 2024, there was another procedure to clean up her knee before she could return to snow in February 2025.
In October 2025, Gaskell was finally able to compete for the first time since her Olympic debut was derailed. She broke into the top-10 in the first big air World Cup of her comeback in November.
• Two other Vernon residents have been named to the support staff for the Olympic freestyle skiing team.
Dr. Hannah Gibson has been named as one of two chief medical officers for the squad, and Mark Borslein is a physiotherapist for the Canadian moguls team.