Growing up Cassie Sharpe loved gymnastics so much she once was kicked off the soccer field for doing cartwheels during a game. Skiing and gymnastics were her favourite sports until she was forced to choose just one to focus on at age 16. She chose skiing, but in a way, Cassie was able to combine elements of both sports later on as she became one of the world’s greatest halfpipe freestyle skiers.
Born in Calgary, when Cassie was eight her family moved to Comox where her father took a job at nearby Mount Washington. Many a weekend was spent there chasing her brothers Doug and future Canadian Olympian Darcy down the slopes, fearlessly matching their backflips and crazy tricks off jumps with one of her own. In Cassie’s mid-teens she made the BC Freestyle team and largely competed in slopestyle before backing into halfpipe almost by accident later on. She surprised everyone including herself in 2012 by winning the first halfpipe competition she entered. She began competing internationally and within two years was a member of Canada’s national halfpipe team under coach Trennon Paynter. 2024 marked a decade for Cassie on the national squad.
In that time, Cassie has exhibited remarkable courage and tenacity, landing some of the most dangerous tricks in her sport—first woman in history to land a switch cork 720 in competition—and overcoming a laundry list of serious injuries while filling a trophy case with international hardware.
A two-time silver medalist in halfpipe at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships in 2015 and 2019, Cassie also won five superpipe medals at the Winter X Games (two gold, one silver, two bronze) and claimed the Crystal Globe twice as FIS World Cup overall champion in 2018 and 2019. On top of all that, at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang she became Canada’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist in women’s halfpipe and four years later followed that up with an Olympic silver medal in Beijing.
And Cassie’s story isn’t finished yet. After having her first child Louella in 2023, she plans to return to competition and pursue her third Olympic medal in 2026.
Written and researched by Jason Beck, Curator of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.