Shooting star: Canadian freestyle skier Amy Fraser soaring to new heights
CBC
Canadian halfpipe skier Amy Fraser couldn't have imagined all her life experience could have led to this.
From taking up the sport of freestyle skiing in her early 20s, to making the Beijing Olympic halfpipe final six years later, to landing her first-ever World Cup podium and X Games invite this season at age 27, Fraser is just getting started.
It's one thing to take up a sport so late, but one where you ski 22-foot walls while throwing down flips and tricks? That's next level.
But that's Fraser in a nutshell.
"If they can do it, why can't I?"
WATCH | Amy Fraser wins World Cup freeski halfpipe silver:
That might just be her unofficial motto since being discovered while teaching herself rails and tricks at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary in 2016.
"I didn't really have the ambition to compete at that time, but I started looking at the girls in the sport and thought it doesn't look that hard, why couldn't I do what they were doing, but I just thought I was too old already."
If age is nothing but a number, then Fraser is a living proverb.
"My initial impression of Amy was this woman has come in and she's had a later start than the average traditional athlete that you've found at this stage, but when I met her and saw her, it was obvious how much she wanted it and how smart and motivated she was," said Canadian halfpipe coach Trennon Paynter.
"That stood out instantly."
Similar to Olympic bronze medallist teammate Rachael Karker, who was a competitive ski racer, ballerina and trampolinist, Fraser had the building blocks to be a great freestyle skier from the beginning.
Born in Halifax, Fraser spent her formative years in Medicine Hat, Alta., where she became a multi-sport athlete — a competitive ski racer and gymnast.
She credits both sports in helping her trajectory.
