Snowboarding | Elizabeth Hosking does not hide her ambitions

Elizabeth Hosking made an impact in her circle of friends when she announced that she would be participating in the X Games.

Simon Drouin
The Press

” The X Games?

– Yes Yes, the XGames…”

For the first time, the 20-year-old snowboarder will line up in the cult extreme sports competition, whose winter component will take place from Friday to Sunday in Aspen, a chic Colorado resort.

“In our sport, the X Games is big,” she said in an interview Monday. But for me, who’s just an athlete who loves to watch the Olympics, who loves to watch all sports, the Olympics is still bigger. It’s a childhood dream. »

Because not only is she one of the eight halfpipe specialists to have received an invitation for the X Games, but she will be on the big trip for the Beijing Olympics.

Canada Snowboard officially announced its team in a press release on Monday. With a total of 19 athletes – or riders… –, the contingent has its usual headliners, including Olympic medalists Laurie Blouin, Sébastien Toutant, Mark McMorris and Maxence Parrot, who was already qualified.

The youngest members of the entire Canadian Olympic team in 2018, Éliot Grondin and Elizabeth Hosking, 16 years old at the time, will already be playing their second Olympic Games.

This time, they can each claim the podium. In bronze at the last World Championships, Grondin, a Beauceron from Sainte-Marie, won two other snowboard cross medals on the World Cup circuit this winter.

Hosking, from Mille-Isles, is a rising star in the halfpipe. She finished fourth and fifth in her two World Cup starts this season. These personal highs allowed him to cement his place for the Games.

She got confirmation of her selection in an email last week. In 2018, she received her Olympic jacket as part of a small ceremony in her sports-studies program at the Saint-Jérôme high school.

“This year, everyone is in the same boat: there is no big announcement or official celebrations. […] When I called my parents, they were happy too. They said: we will keep this a secret! Ben there, you can say it, it does not matter! I can’t wait to be able to celebrate with them when I return. »

In a bubble

Competing and training in the American West since the beginning of the month, Hosking will return to Quebec only after the Games. Before her departure on January 29, she will participate in a final internship in Calgary.

To guard against infection with the COVID-19 virus, she is living in a tight health bubble with her trainer Brian Smith. Each outing is calculated, like at the grocery store, which they visit at less busy times according to a specific route to reduce the time spent inside.

“We accept the risks, but we never go into the resort chalet, we don’t go to the restaurant, we don’t even have food delivered, explains Smith, who will accompany his protege to the Games. We are very, very careful. It’s not what everyone sees [dans le milieu]. »

A surprise guest in PyeongChang, Hosking does not hide her ambitions this time. The recent mastery of a new maneuver – the 1080 with a heel plank grip – allows him to dream of a medal.

Pressure ? “If we talk about other people’s expectations, I think everyone just wants me to perform well. It’s just learning how to handle a new situation. It’s true that I can really aspire to the podium: we’ve seen it twice. I want to put myself in this position as much as possible to manage this stress better and better. And reach the podium as I wish. »

Hosking has a significant advantage over its main rivals: it took part in a World Cup at the Secret Garden site. She finished seventh there in December 2019. The 2021 Worlds were to be played at the same venue as a test event, but were moved to Aspen due to the pandemic.

“It’s very windy, very cold too. The snow is very abrasive. I also know that the demi-lune is firm and icy. It’s a winter half-pipe. We hear that China has built an infrastructure to try to cut the wind. »

The young woman had fractured an ankle bone on a bad landing at Secret Garden. It’s just a distant memory. The maneuver on which she was injured, the 900, she no longer does. She went straight to 1080…