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The Saskatoon Freestyle Ski Club has been locked on to the Olympics as one of their own gets the chance to chase the podium.
Saskatoon’s own Maïa Schwinghammer made her Olympic debut on the ski hill in Italy, competing in women’s moguls and dual moguls events. On Wednesday, Schwinghammer finished less than a point away from the podium in the women’s individual event, winding up in fifth place.
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It was a special moment for her cousins, Renee and Sadie Schwinghammer, who were watching back home in Saskatoon.
“It was really incredible, just getting to see her get fifth in the world,” Renee said. “That’s pretty hard to do, and it’s really inspiring.”
Saskatoon skier Maïa Schwinghammer is representing Canada at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan, Italy. (International Ski Federation/Submitted)
The sisters are part of the same ski club which Maïa visited several times in her international career. She was skiing with the club as recently as December, when a new jump at Optimist Hill was built so that she could train during her visit back home.
According to 13-year-old Sadie, the sport of freestyle skiing is special to the entire Schwinghammer family.
“I think it’s a pretty big part of our family,” Sadie said. “Lots of us do it.”
From newcomers to the sport to high-performance athletes, the Saskatoon Freestyle Club has been locked in on Canada’s top-ranked moguls athlete.
Head coach Graeme McKay said he hopes having a local Olympian on the ski hill will mean more athletes discovering the sport in Saskatoon.
“It’s just great to have something like this,” said McKay. “The kids are able to get their feet wet, so to speak, in the sport. If it grips them and catches them, if they want to pursue it more and branch out, then we’re happy to see them do that.”
Mark Bobyn, a past president of Freestyle Saskatchewan and a local coach for Maïa, said the local Olympian has a lot of pull in the province and has accelerated interest in the sport.
“We have higher female participation than any other province,” Bobyn said.
“I can’t help but think that has a lot to do with Maïa.”
After expanding programming to include more than 60 local athletes in Saskatoon over just five years, Bobyn said Saskatchewan’s freestyle skiing community is the fastest growing in the country.
Despite a perception that Saskatchewan’s hills are too small to train on competitively, he said it’s actually a benefit in the freestyle world to have shorter runs.
“We’ve realized that we have some real advantages, and we’re using them,” Bobyn said.
“Maïa has been a big part of opening that up and demonstrating that. If you want to go to the national team, if you want to compete at the Olympic level, this is the pathway, and a lot of our athletes are following that pathway.”
Encouraged by what her cousin is doing on the world stage, Renee said she hopes to chase the fast times set by her cousin.
“It really just inspires me to keep trying my best at skiing,” Renee said. “Hoping maybe one day I could do that too.”
