Squamish’s Chase Capicik will be representing Canada at the Junior World Ski Championships in Valmalenco, Italy this week.
“She’ll be the youngest on Team Canada and the youngest competitor there at the world championships,” said Tami Bradley, Capicik’s mother.
Capicik is 14 years old.
“We were pretty shocked. She’s had a really good season. So with that momentum, they decided they were going to send her.”
This wasn’t the only good news.
At the recent B.C. skiing championships at Silver Star this past weekend, local skiers put on a commanding performance during the competition.
In the U16 women’s moguls, Squamish conquered the podium by taking all three spots.
Capicik was first; Malica Malherbe took second; and Lynette Conn took third.
In the U16 men’s slopestyle, Owen Scarth shone in third.
Sea to Sky women continued their dominant performance, taking all three slots in the U16 women’s slopestyle.
Whistler’s Caoimhe Heavey was first; Capicik took second and third went to Malherbe.
In the U16 big air, locals once again had a place on top, with Aidan Mulvihill taking second.
Mattheus Heslop took second in the U14 men’s moguls.
But perhaps the biggest achievement was a Squamish sweep for the overall score during all three Timber Tour competitions across the moguls, slope, big air and dual moguls combined.
In this special category, Capick took first; Malherbe took second and Lynette Conn took third.
It was a repeat of the sweep they made years ago when they were just nine years old.
Before that, Squamish skiers were already on a roll this season, as three girls qualified for the Senior Nationals in Quebec.
For Capicik and Malherbe, it was their first time on a seniors course. Squamish’s Cassidy Butterworth was making a return appearance, but an injury prevented her from competing.
With only eight girls making it to finals, two of them were from Squamish. Capicik qualified third after placing fourth. Malherbe was the eighth to qualify and placed seventh, making both skiers the youngest to qualify during this year’s Senior Nationals. Both also qualified for duals, when Capicik placed fifth and Malherbe came in sixth.
That put them up against national team skiers including Laurianne Desmarais-Gilbert, a national champion.
At Le Relais, Quebec, skiers faced off at the Junior Nationals between March 13 and 17. Capicik placed third in singles the first day and took home silver in duals the next.
This competition season, Capicik had strong showings at the first two Timber Tour events, bringing home a triple gold. She was the youngest to compete at this year’s FIS International event, where she landed both a 360-turn at the top of a run and a backflip at the bottom.
She went on to compete in the NorAm, and the Canada Cup in Fernie, where she placed third in singles the first day and fourth in duals the next.
Conn and Malherbe, placed 14 and 15 at Canada Cup, going on to compete at Junior Nationals. There, Conn placed 12 and Malherbe 11 for the singles under-16 ladies’ category. Butterworth placed 10.
In the boys’ category, Matheus Heslop of Squamish made his debut at Junior Nationals.
In singles, he placed seventh. During the finals, he took bronze.
