Introduction

For my community connections project, I interviewed professional skier, Megan Oldham. Megan is a remarkable 20 year old, Canadian freestyle skier from Ontario who specializes in slopestyle and big air. In slopestyle, skiers go through a course that consist of rail and jump features and big air in an event where skiers perform difficult aerial tricks off a large slope. Megan grew up in Parry Sound, Ontario, where she started skiing at the age of five. Megan was more focused on gymnastics and figure skating when she was a child. However, after trying out freestyle skiing, she instantly fell in love with the sport.

In 2018 at her very first event, the Nor-Am cup, she won gold. Then in 2019, she became Canada’s first ever junior medalist, winning silver at the Junior World Championships. Later, Megan became well renowned for winning multiple medals in big air and slopestyle skiing events at international tournaments. She won gold in big air at the Winter X games in Norway and became a double medalist at the 2021 Winter X games in Aspen. As a member of Canada’s 2022 Olympic team, she is currently competing at Beijing in big air and slopestyle events. Last week, Megan won fourth place in the Women’s freestyle skiing big air at the Beijing Olympics!

I chose to interview Megan Oldham for my project because she’s someone I look up to. She’s passionate about what she does and describes skiing as something that brings her freedom and happiness. As someone who can connect to this, I find her truly inspirational. I absolutely love to ski, and it’s one of the things I enjoy most in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Video:

“Megan Oldham with top run to qualify in 1st place in women’s freestyle ski big air | Beijing 2022 Olympics”

The Interview

Megan and I connected and conversed through Instagram and emails. Below I have listed my interview questions with her responses.

1. Can you describe your category of skiing and your responsibilities within it?

• “I am a Freestyle Skier and compete in Big Air and Slopestyle. Big Air is an event that consists of one massive jump where athletes preform 2 of their hardest maneuvers to accumulate the highest score to land them on the podium. Slopestyle is a course that typically consists of 3 or 4 rail sections, and 3 jumps. Athletes must ride through the course from feature-to-feature preforming different tricks. The sport mainly revolves around these scoring aspects: amplitude, style, difficulty, and execution.”

2. Have you faced any obstacles to get where you are today?

• “I had knee surgery on my meniscus which was an obstacle in that it took roughly 3 months out of my training. I had to regain my strength and mobility and spend lots of time in the gym. I also had surgery on my thumb 6 weeks before the Olympics which was a tricky obstacle as well since I needed to be in top shape for the Games. I had a special surgery where they added internal bracing to allow for a quicker recovery. I also spent a lot of time with a physio regaining motion.”

3. What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing?

• “The advice I would give to anyone who is interested in Freestyle Skiing is to take your time and not miss steps. If you start from the basics like edge control and work your way up slowly to harder tricks, then you will avoid injury and become an overall better skier in the long run. The more fundamentals you learn, the easier and faster your progression will be.”

4. What makes you passionate about your sport?

• “I am so passionate about this sport because it brings me a sense of freedom that is unimaginable. The sensation of being in the air or landing a difficult trick you have been working on is phenomenal. The sport allows me to forget the outside world and experience a sensation of pure bliss. It’s almost as if you are in your own world. You are in the present moment and feel pure happiness.”

5. Did you have any inspiration as a young athlete?

• “As a child, I was always inspired by Shawn Johnson who is a gymnast. She was small like me but mighty and determined. I also really looked up to Kaya Turski. She is badass skier and a hardcore rollerblader. I could tell that her passion for the sport was unmatched, and she constantly was progressing the sport in different ways.”

6. What do you think is the toughest aspect of being a professional athlete?

• “I think the toughest part about being a professional athlete, especially in my discipline are injuries. My sport contains a lot of heavy impact and difficult maneuvers, so if you land wrong it can result in bad injuries. When you have to take time off from the sport (sometimes even up to a year) it is really difficult mentally and physically. Having to relearn basic movements like squatting after ACL surgery is really demoralizing. It is hard not to fall behind in this sport while you are injured because it is constantly progressing.”

Conclusion

I learned numerous things while interviewing Megan. I learnt that it’s important to take your time and learn the basics of skiing to become better in the long run. I gained a deeper knowledge around freestyle, big air and slopestyle skiing. Lastly, I learned that freestyle skiing is a high-risk and difficult sport, especially in Megan’s discipline, so its important to always be careful.

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to interview Megan Oldham for my project. I gained lots of great advice and information from the interview, and I admire her and skiing so much more.  The interview fueled my passion for skiing, and I gained a deeper connection to the sport.

 

Links:

• https://olympic.ca/team-canada/megan-oldham/
• https://www.instagram.com/megan.oldhamm/?hl=en
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8iumyOKQg4

Images

• “Parry Sound’s Megan Oldham Representing Canada at the Winter Olympics.” The Star, https://www.thestar.com/local-parry-sound/news/2022/01/26/parry-sound-s-megan-oldham-representing-canada-at-the-winter-olympics.html?itm_source=parsely-api.
• https://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/article/canadas-megan-oldham-finishes-fourth-freestyle-ski-big-air-olympics/
• https://radioworkzparrysound.com/2021/03/14/bronze-medal-for-parry-sounds-megan-oldham-at-the-2021-freestyle-world-ski-championships-in-aspen/