Skip to content

Squamish skiers make strong debut at junior and senior nationals

Skiers competed March 22 to 25
pix
Chase Capicik during Senior Nationals.

Squamish skiers have been on a roll this season, as three girls qualified for the Senior Nationals in Quebec.

For Chase Capicik and Malica Malherbe, it was their first time on a seniors course. 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.

Lynette Conn and Malherbe, both also from Squamish, 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. Squamish's Cassidy Butterworth placed 10.

pix
Chase Capicik and Matheus Heslop. - Sharron Dawson

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.

The Squamish freestyle skiers will be competing next at the final Timber Tour event in Silver Star this weekend.  

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks