Vernon's Elena Gaskell competes in Freeski Slopestyle event at Olympics

Gaskell takes to the slopes

Photo: Instagram

Elena Gaskell

The first Okanagan athlete to compete at the 2026 Olympic Games took to the slopes in Italy early Saturday morning.

Vernon's own Elena Gaskell competed in the women's Freeski Slopestyle event, which took place at 1:30 a.m. PST.

Falling on both her runs, the 24-year-old's best score was a 15.06, putting her 23rd in qualifying. Only the top 12 qualify for the finals.

"Couldn't put a run down today but that's how it goes sometimes," Gaskell posted to Instagram. "Still hyped to be here and on my skiing this week. On to the next event."

Canadians Megan Oldham and Naomi Urness qualified for the finals, which will take place early Sunday morning.

In the slopestyle event, skiers navigate a course with a variety of rails and jumps and are judged on the breadth, originality, and quality of their tricks.

Gaskell will also be competing in the Freeski Big Air event next weekend.

This was the first time Gaskell has competed at the Olympics, after she tore her ACL four years ago at the Olympics in Beijing, just one day before she was set to make her Olympic debut,.