Sea to Sky talents were well-represented at day one of the 2025 Canadian Freestyle Championships, but none soared higher than Aidan Mulvihill.
The Freestyle Whistler alum took care of business at Highest Level Park on Blackcomb Mountain to grab gold. Avery Macyk did enough for silver and Henri Joyal went home with bronze.
"I'm hyped. I'm super stoked on how the comp went," Mulvihill said. "The whole event was set up really well. Kind of felt like I had a bullseye on my back, especially being the only national team athlete doing slopestyle, so I had to really put it down. I wanted to set the standard high for the team, and was able to do that. It means a lot that I was able to do it in my hometown and become national champion."
Unlike most other events, Freestyle Nationals puts every athlete into the same division: which meant young teens got to drop in against those with World Cup experience. Mulvihill shouted out Jude Oliver, a 15-year-old local who finished fourth, by calling Oliver "unreal" and admitting he'll be a little nervous for himself once Oliver gets older.
Sina Clegg, meanwhile, topped the podium in ladies' moguls at the Gemini Freestyle Centre. Not far behind was runner-up Maya Mikkelsen, and Florence Laroche pulled up third.
"Honestly, I think it was more about having fun and the performance came second," remarked Clegg. "It was super nice to be with everyone in Canada. I want to just carry momentum from this competition [forward]. All the girls were firing, all of us were pushing each other, so I hope to keep that going into spring camp and training."
Added Whistler's Mikkelsen, who is getting ready for her inaugural World Cup tour next season: "I'm super happy to be second in Canada. I did it last year, so I'm happy to do it again this year."
Results roundup
Perhaps the most seasoned of the Canadian victors this time around was men's moguls king Elliot Vaillancourt. The Drummondville, Que. native fended off worthy efforts by Charles Beaulieu (second) and Mavrick Sauve (third) to secure first place.
Although he's earned two World Cup silvers from the 2023-24 campaign, Vaillancourt has been trying to rediscover his touch as of late.
"I wasn't supposed to initially come here, being part of the [Canadian] World Championships group, but I wanted to come and try to grab another title here and that's what I did," he said. "I'm pretty happy with the overall result after a tough season. It was a challenging qualification…with those icy conditions, it was very easy to make an extremely expensive mistake. Once we showed back up for finals, [we could] turn on the gas, take more risk and the consequences were less, so I feel like all the guys just went and tried to put on the biggest show possible.
"Coming into this season, my mindset was affected by last year. I had very good results, so I was kind of taken away from the process and more oriented towards the results. Everything shifted in my mind, which it shouldn't have, because the way I got there [to World Cup podiums] is the way I should have kept on going. This year forced me to take a step back and come back to why I enjoy skiing over just trying to get a good result."
Last but not least, Ayden Fraser prevailed in women's slopestyle ahead of silver medallist Analise Perry and bronze medallist Zoe Greze Kozuki.
Fraser appears to be trending in the right direction after recovering from a significant knee injury that laid her low in early 2024.
"I was very happy with how I did," said Fraser. "Even got to do a trick [on Saturday] that I haven't done in over a year: a right cork seven, which was something I last did the day I tore my ACL. Did it in my second finals run, and I just…felt so good to accomplish that, let alone the results that came with it."
More results are available here.
