The airspace above Commonwealth Stadium will be crowded this weekend as Whistlerites join the world's best snowboarders in a historic competition.
On Dec. 9 and 10, Edmonton, Alta. will play host to the first FIS Snowboard Big Air World Cup event ever to be held in a stadium. More than 1,200 cubic metres of snow has been trucked into Commonwealth, home to the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL), to fill out a ramp that is 147 metres long and nearly 45 metres tall—a fitting runway for elite athletes who will try to throw down their biggest, wildest tricks in front of more than 10,000 fans.
"This, to my knowledge, is the largest scaffolding build ever built in history," said Richard Hegarty, major event specialist for Canada Snowboard, in an interview with CTV News Edmonton.
Leading the charge for Whistler this week will be Canadian Olympians Darcy Sharpe and Jasmine Baird along with stylish young guns Truth Smith, Finn Finestone and Juliette Pelchat.
Sharpe has four Winter X Games medals under his belt, including slopestyle gold from 2020 in Aspen, Colo. The 26-year-old competed in his first Winter Olympics this February, placing 12th in big air and 23rd in slopestyle. His older sister, Cassie, is a decorated halfpipe freestyler with Olympic gold from PyeongChang in 2018 and Olympic silver this year from Beijing.
Baird, 23, inherited snowboarding from her parents and names Whistler as her favourite place to shred. The Georgetown, Ont. native is coming off a banner 2022 season where she was ranked third overall in both slopestyle and park and pipe in FIS standings. Baird led Canadian women in big air at her first Olympics this year, managing a seventh-place result to go with 15th place in slopestyle.
Smith, 18, honed his craft at the Whistler Valley Snowboard Club. The longtime local grabbed slopestyle silver at the 2022 Canadian Junior National Championships in Calgary, Alta. and will be looking to distinguish himself amidst world-class opposition this year. Smith loves to ride all year and coaches at the Whistler Skateboard Club (WSC) during summer months.
Finestone was born and raised in Whistler, and has been carving powder since he was three years old. Now 19, he is a three-sport athlete who bikes and coaches skateboarding at WSC whenever he's not snowboarding. Finestone's last gold medal came this January at Mammoth Mountain, Calif, on the Nor-Am Cup circuit.
Pelchat, 18, is the daughter of Whistler snowboarding legend JF Pelchat. Much like Smith and Finestone, she's an all-terrain vehicle who coaches skateboarding for girls when not on the mountain. Pelchat struck gold at the 2020 Canadian Junior National Championships and last saw World Cup action this October in Switzerland.
The Whistlerites will be taking on a stacked field of international superstars like 10-time X Games medallist Marcus Kleveland of Norway, 2018 Olympic slopestyle king Red Gerard of the United States, and two-time Olympic big air champ Anna Gasser of Austria.
Visit the CBC Sports website for live-streaming options for both the men's and the women's competitions.
