Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nickname(s) | Dar, Lizzy D | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Huntsville, Ontario, Canada | August 23, 1994|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Dara Howell (born August 23, 1994) is a Canadian freestyle skier. She was the first freestyle skier to win a gold medal in ski slopestyle at the inaugural event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Howell has also won a bronze medal in women's slopestyle at the Winter X Games XVII in Aspen, Colorado, behind Tiril Sjåstad Christiansen and Kaya Turski. [1] [2]
Dara first competed at the Winter X Games in Aspen 2012, and was the youngest female competitor. She followed this with a Bronze Medal in the 2012 Winter X Games in Tignes. As of 2019, Dara has won 4 medals at the Winter X Games.
At the 2014 Winter Olympics Howell started competition as a gold medal threat together with compatriot Kaya Turski. Turski was favoured ahead of her but was sick on the day of competition and crashed out in both of her qualifying runs, failing to make the final. In the final Howell had a successful first run scoring a 94.2, a run and score which would hold up as the eventual gold medal winner. Kim Lamarre a fellow Canadian finished in third to complete another two medal event for Canada at those Olympics. Howell, like many of the Canadian women in freestyle competition was close to freestyle skier Sarah Burke, who died while on a training run a few years before the sport was inaugurated as an Olympic event. Burke had coached Howell at Momentum Ski Camps in Whistler Blackcomb. [3] She dedicated her victory to Burke saying "Oh, my God. I don't know what to say. I can't believe it. It is so surreal and I am so happy to win a gold medal for Canada. I don't think it will hit me until later. It is truly amazing. There are a number of really good girls out there and I came out on top. This is the best moment in my entire life...I said it earlier this week, I hope a Canadian brings home a gold medal for Sarah. I can't believe it's me. It's totally for Sarah and I cannot believe it." [4]
Even though she was struggling with injuries and personal pressures after the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Dara still qualified and competed for Canada at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Dara's 2018/2019 was derailed by an injury at the Big Air World Cup in New Zealand, resulting in a torn anterior cruciate knee ligament. [5] The injury required surgery, and Dara missed the rest of the season while she recovered.
Dara returned to competition in November 2019 at the Modena Skipass World Cup in Modena, Italy. After finishing in first place after Qualifying, Dara took home the Bronze medal. [6]
Howell was born in Huntsville, Ontario. She attended Tawingo College and Huntsville Public School, and graduated from Huntsville High School. She also has taken courses with VLC. [7] Dara has an older brother named Brett. [8] Dara shared publicly about the personal challenges she faced after winning a Gold Medal at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. [9]
Sarah Jean Burke was a Canadian freestyle skier who was a pioneer of the superpipe event. She was a five-time Winter X Games gold medallist, and won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005. She successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to have the event added to the Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was considered a medal favourite in the event. Burke died following a training accident in Utah in 2012.
Kelsey Serwa is a Canadian retired freestyle skier who was a member of the Canadian national ski cross team. She won a gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. She is the 2011 FIS World Champion and two times Winter X Games champion. In addition, she has won a bronze medal at the 2010 X Games.
Winter X Games XIV were held from January 28 to January 31, 2010, in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 9th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen. The events were broadcast on ESPN.
Justine Dufour-Lapointe is a Canadian freestyle skier. She was the Olympic champion in the moguls event at the 2014 Winter Olympics and won a silver medal in moguls at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The gold and silver she and her sister Chloe Dufour-Lapointe won in 2014 was the first time that Canadian sisters stood together on the podium, and the fourth time ever by all nations. In winning the Olympics, she became the youngest freestyle skiing Olympic champion ever at nineteen years of age. Dufour-Lapointe was the FIS World Cup rookie of the year for the 2010–11 season. Dufour-Lapointe was the world champion in moguls at the 2015 World Championships has also won a silver and two other bronze medals in the moguls event at the Freestyle World Ski Championships.
Sébastien Toutant is a Canadian snowboarder. He is the Olympic gold medallist in men's big air snowboarding at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Toutant was twice the gold medal winner in slopestyle at the X Games in 2011 and 2013. He has also won two silver medals and a bronze in slopestyle and big air events at the X Games, bringing his total medals in the competition to five.
Grete Eliassen is an American-Norwegian freestyle skier. She won a bronze medal in Slopestyle at the 2011 Winter X Games XV in Aspen, Colorado, behind Kaya Turski and Keri Herman. She has won six medals at the Winter X Games in slopestyle and halfpipe events including back to back gold medals in 2005 and 2006. Eliassen has been serving as the 16th president of the Women's Sports Foundation, effective January 2017.
Kaya Turski is a Canadian freestyle skier. She is an eight-time Winter X Games champion in Women's Ski slope style. At the 2010 Winter X Games XIV held in Aspen, she won her gold medal with the highest ever slopestyle score at a Winter X Games with 96.66. One week after she won the gold medal in Slopestyle at the 2011 Winter X Games XV in Aspen, Colorado, ahead of Keri Herman and Grete Eliassen, she captured the silver medal at the 2011 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships, behind Anna Segal of Australia. In mid-2013, she tore her anterior cruciate ligament.
Keri Marie Herman is an American freestyle skier and US Olympian. She placed 10th in Slopestyle at the 2014 Sochi Games. She won a silver medal in Slopestyle at the 2011 Winter X Games XV in Aspen, Colorado, behind Kaya Turski. The following week, Herman took bronze at the 2011 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships. Herman now holds a total of 5 Winter X Games medals. 3 in Aspen and 2 from European X Games in Tignes, France. Keri Herman grew up in Bloomington, MN. She played ice hockey during her four years at Visitation High School as Center for the Visitation Blazers team. She moved to CO to attend the University of Denver where she graduated in 2005 with a BSBA in Finance and Marketing. She studied abroad for a semester at the University of Queensland, Australia. She moved to Breckenridge in 2004 where she has since lived, traveling around the world competing in Slopestyle and Halfpipe skiing events. In 2011, she was named to the first US Freeskiing Slopestyle team. Her sponsors are ROCKSTAR Energy, Scott USA, Breckenridge Resort, HEAD SKIS, US Freeskiing, Buff, Jiberish, and Discrete.
Anna Segal is an Australian Olympic freestyle slopestyle skier and two-time world champion.
Rosalind Groenewoud is a Canadian freeskier, known as Roz G in the action sports world. She is the 2011 FIS World Champion in halfpipe, Groenewoud is also a 2012 Winter X Games champion x 2 and has 3 silver and two bronze medals from X Games competitions in halfpipe. She won the AFP Overall Championship in 2009 & 2010 and AFP Halfpipe Overall Ranking in 2012. Groenewoud is a two-time Olympian, 2014 and 2018. She is the first woman to design her own pro-model freestyle ski with the female owned ski company Coalition Snow.
Mark Lee McMorris is a Canadian professional snowboarder who specializes in slopestyle and big air events. A three-time Olympic bronze medallist, he placed third in each of the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics, and 2022 Winter Olympics in the slopestyle event. While filming for Transworld Snowboarding's "Park Sessions" video in March 2011, Mark became the first person to land a Backside Triple Cork 1440. More recently, on April 28, 2018, Mark landed the world's first Double Cork off a rail, the Front-Board Double Cork 1170, with a melancholy grab. Mark has also left his mark at X-Games and other events. In 2012 and 2013, Mark won back-to-back gold medals in Winter X Games in the slopestyle event. In 2023 he defended his Winter X Games gold medal in the men's slopestyle to set a record for the most Winter X Games medals with 22.
Tiril Sjåstad Christiansen is a former Norwegian freestyle skier.
Canada competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, from February 7 to 23, 2014. Canadians competed in every discipline except Nordic combined.
James Woods is a British freestyle skier. He has won six medals at FIS World Cup and two medals at FIS World Championships
Alex Beaulieu-Marchand is a Canadian freestyle skier. He represented Canada in slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, winning the bronze medal at the latter.
Kim Lamarre is a Canadian freestyle skier. She won Canada's first ever bronze medal in the women's slopestyle skiing event at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Lamarre said of her surprise bronze that "This is surreal. I have no words to describe this feeling. I am so happy. I knew it was possible but I didn't put it as my main goal. I just wanted to make the finals and then land my run and see what happened." The medal came after compatriot and gold medal favourite Kaya Turski failed to qualify for the finals. Despite this Canada still managed two medals in the event after Dara Howell won the gold medal.
Alex Bellemare is a Canadian skier from Saint-Boniface, Quebec. He has competed in numerous skiing events, such as the Winter X Games. In Aspen 2015, he took Bronze at the Winter X Games XIX in Slopestyle Skiing. Alex also represented Canada in slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Laurie Blouin is a Canadian freestyle snowboarder. She is the reigning FIS World Champion in slopestyle, winning the gold at the 2017 World Championships. Blouin won a silver medal in slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Isabel Atkin is a British-American freestyle skier who competes internationally for Great Britain. She won bronze in women's slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the first British Olympic medal in skiing.
Megan Oldham is a Canadian freestyle skier who competes internationally in the big air and slopestyle disciplines. Oldham grew up in Parry Sound, Ontario.