Amalia Pelchat first stepped onto a snowboard at three years of age. As the daughter of Whistler backcountry legend JF Pelchat—and the younger sister of Team Canada’s Juliette Pelchat—her early exposure to multiple sports was inevitable.
Nowadays, Amalia is 15 and putting her all-terrain aptitude on display.
The junior Pelchat locked up three medals in a standout performance for Team BC at the recent Canada Winter Games in P.E.I. Two gold medals came in her familiar disciplines of slopestyle and big air. The third, a bronze, was earned in snowboard cross—which Amalia does not normally train for.
“I was very surprised [to get on that podium],” she admitted. “But just by living in Whistler … you can become a strong athlete overall. I was like: you know what; I’m just going to try [boardercross]. Why not?”
After making the quarterfinals, she realized she had a chance to go all the way.
Amalia found herself trailing for much of the big final in Brookvale as more experienced contenders jumped out in front. Yet she kept at it, using her grasp of terrain and technique to build momentum. Eventually, the Whistlerite overtook Quebec’s Rose Savard-Ferguson and joined her teammate Hannah Turkington on the podium—much to her own surprise and excitement.
Overall, Amalia is “over the moon” about her Canada Winter Games experience. She is proud to have represented not just herself, but her province and a sport she deeply loves. Competing for Team BC also generated a bevy of new friendships.
“There are many girls that I’ve met [in P.E.I] from all around Canada who were at the same contests as me, but I didn’t know them,” Amalia said. “But meeting all these new girls and even guys that are just such strong athletes has made me better. These bonds, I’ll have forever.”
A real wild sisterhood
Another bond that Amalia will cherish for the rest of her life is the one she has with her sister, Juliette. The two have grown up on mountainsides and in skate parks together, and they continue to redefine the local skateboarding scene with the Real Wild Kittens (RWK) girls-only skateboard camp they founded together.
Both are driven and competitive, with lofty aspirations in life, but neither allows those things to get in the way of family.
Amalia is no doubt gunning to match or exceed her sister’s considerable athletic feats. Juliette has had a robust taste of FIS World Cup action, testing herself against Olympic and X Games medallists like Quebec’s Laurie Blouin and Reira Iwabuchi of Japan. Back on Dec. 10, 2022, the elder Pelchat got to be part of history: the first World Cup big air contest ever held in a stadium.
The pressure can cut both ways, too. Juliette admits that Amalia has become a more capable skateboarder than her—not an easy realization about one’s younger sibling. For a brief time, this sapped Juliette’s drive to keep at it with skateboarding, but it never diminished the love they have for each other.
“We kind of feed off each other and we’ve learned how to ride with each other more … with the competitiveness—but in a good way, in a positive way,” Juliette said in a 2021 interview with Pique.
An example of that healthy dynamic was the Dirksen Derby, a banked slalom contest held from Dec. 16 to 18 in Oregon. Amalia bested her older sister on the weekend she turned 15, and remembers how supported she felt by Juliette that day.
“I know it must be hard, having your younger sister being a bit better than you in some things, but it’s just so incredible to see how she’s dealing with it, and she’s still so happy with me,” Amalia said.
“Whenever I win … [Juliette] is just always there to support me and be excited for me, even if she is feeling a bit sad sometimes.”
The Pelchats will forever be bonded by their love of board and backcountry. JF and his daughters still race together at times, and Mount Baker’s Legendary Banked Slalom is one of the family’s favourite events. Other key contests on Amalia’s radar include the FIS Park & Pipe Junior World Championship in Wanaka, New Zealand this August, and the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics in South Korea.
Practicing multiple sports has taught Amalia fundamental skills that make her the all-around athlete she is today. It has also taught her the importance of supporting others.
“This year’s National Junior Championships in Calgary were difficult for me, because I fell on my runs [and finished fourth],” Amalia said. “Obviously, you want to spend time acknowledging what you just went through … but I had to put that aside for a bit and be excited for all of my friends who won, and who were just experiencing a really important part in their life.
“One of the big things I’ve had to learn was just to be excited for everyone around you, and always be positive.
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