In an unprecedented season that features both last year’s rescheduled World Para Snowsports Championships as well as the Paralympic Games in Beijing, Whistler’s Mollie Jepsen has been up to the challenge.
Coming off nearly two full years without competing due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a Crohn’s disease diagnosis, Jepsen is having a season for the ages, going nine for nine with podium finishes so far this year.
Early in the season, the West Vancouver product, who was raised on the slopes of Blackcomb and now lives in Whistler full time, wasn’t sure what to expect or where she stacked up against the other racers. But coming off an entire year of strictly training, little did she know she would go on to have the most consistent season of her career starting the season with six straight podiums en route to the World Championships in January.
“I think [my success is due to] just a level of maturity I’ve gained in this world since I was 17 and I started competing on the World Cup circuit,” she said. “I’ve kind of just learned how to manage myself and learned what the environment is like, and also just spent a lot of time in the gym and a lot of time on snow training and gaining confidence in myself.”
But despite her torrid start to the season, gearing up for the World Championships was still nerve wracking for the 22-year-old, as it represented her first major competition since the 2018 Paralympic Games.
Battling through the nerves, Jepsen—who was born without several fingers on her left hand-—was wildly successful, adding two more bronze in downhill and giant slalom, and a silver in super-G to her medal total.
The only thing is, despite all the success, that silver medal, on that day, wasn’t good enough for Jepsen.
The way she skied in that event, making a few minor errors on the course and knowing she “left some stuff on the hill” soured what many would consider the highlight of their season.
But for Jepsen, with all this season’s success, the bar has been raised, and regardless of where she ends up in the rankings, she will no longer accept anything less than the best from herself on the hill.
“I was not skiing the way that I know I can ski so I wasn’t happy, and I think honestly if I had won that race, if I had been in third, fourth, fifth, I would have had the same reaction knowing that I could have done more and I could have skied that better,” she said.
“I’m always going to want to reach higher and I think that’s really the cool part about a sport like ski racing is you kind of check one box and then you’re ready for the next thing, and you are always just building and wanting more. So a second or a third is always going to mean lots to me, especially with the girls field being so competitive, but I’m always going to want more and keep pushing for more.”
While her competitive nature is evident and gives her the upside of holding herself accountable, the hyper competitive mindset also has a downside and has, in the past, led Jepsen to be too hard on herself.
But she believes as long as you are aware and continue to treat yourself, your teammates and your competition with respect, there is no such a thing as being too competitive.
“As long as I’m just keeping it about myself and my own experiences that day and being conscientious of everyone around me who might have had the best day ever and are sitting behind me,” said Jepsen. “I think those things are really important especially as an individual sport that is also a team sport. But I think the biggest implications of potentially being too competitive are just about yourself and learning to control those stressors and keep being nice to yourself. That’s the biggest thing.”
Jepsen is currently in Beijing preparing for the 2022 Paralympic Games, where she hopes to cap off the season on a high note and follow up her performance at the 2018 Games in which she won four medals across five events.
This time around, she will only be competing in three of the five alpine events (downhill, super-g and giant slalom), but with her newfound consistency this season, the top spot on each podium is well within Jepsen’s reach.
“I’m definitely pushing for podiums, but also I’m just hoping to go out there and put down my best skiing and have a fun and safe time with the team,” she said. “It would be lovely to go and have a race where we had no scary COVID stuff and finally get to really enjoy something after the grind the last two years have been.”
