Brenden MacKay (photo supplied)

By Dan Hermanutz

flying high

Former Central Alberta Freestyle Ski Club athlete wins bronze at X-Games

Feb 11, 2020 | 4:34 PM

Brenden MacKay showed up at the X-Games in Aspen, Colorado not expecting much from his first event of that magnitude, one he’d dreamt about competing in his whole life.

Not only did he compete, he won a bronze medal in the men’s ski superpipe event.

“Anyone who grows up competing in park skiing watches the X-Games, including me,” he said Tuesday. “I watched the X-Games basically for my whole life. Getting to compete this year was a dream come true. Getting a medal was kind of unbelievable.”

The 22-year-old former member of the Central Alberta Freestyle Ski Club attended last year’s X-Games as an alternate in case of injury. This year, in his first chance actually compete on the big stage, he made sure to leave an impression.

“The X-Games are definitely the biggest event I’ve ever competed in. My skiing has come along a lot in the past few years and it’s getting to the point where I’m getting competitive with the top guy,” said MacKay. “I’ve been skiing my whole life, the first time I was on skis I was two years old. Growing up I raced for maybe six or seven years, and then after that I started freestyle when I was about ten years old.”

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MacKay has competed in multiple World Cup events and World Championships, but he says none were as big as the X-Games and that they and the Olympics are the two biggest competitions out there.

“I’ve competed in world cups for maybe four or five years now, I’ve competed at the world championships twice, I didn’t compete at the last Olympics, I kind of just missed the Canadian team. My first podium at a professional event and the X-Games and the Olympics are the two biggest events out there, like the most respected. Getting third place at my first one was so awesome.”

The next goal for MacKay is to make the Canadian Olympic freestyle ski team for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and walk away with some hardware.

MacKay is currently training for the next World Cup in Calgary, which starts Wednesday. The top ten qualifiers from Wednesday’s event will be put into the finals which will happen Friday at Canada Olympic Park. He is one of six competitors in the ski halfpipe category.

For more information on the World Cup visit https://www.therodeo.ca/en/