Gerry Sorensen began skiing at the age of ten. At twenty-one she joined the national team and specialized in the gruelling downhill event. Sorensen was elected to the Canadian Amateur Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, and was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

Sorensen joined the Canadian National Alpine Ski Team at the beginning of the 1979-80 season. In February 1981, she won the World Cup Downhill race in Haus, Austria, with a time of 1:39.27. In January 1982, she won the World Cup Downhill on two consecutive days at Grindlewald, Switzerland. Sorensen was only the third woman ever to win back-to-back victories in the same event.

One month later, she won the World Alpine Downhill Championships in Haus, Austria (this was the first gold for Canada in twenty-four years). Sorensen was named Canada’s “Top Female Athlete”, Sport B.C.’s “Top Senior”, and “Top Overall Athlete” in 1982. She was ranked number one in the world for the downhill event for the 1982-83 season. In 1984, she won her fourth World Cup victory in three years in the downhill course at Puy St. Vincent, France.