Olympic champion Jennifer Heil to serve as Team Canada Chef de Mission for Milano Cortina 2026

Team Canada will be led with skill and experience at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, as Olympic champion freestyle skier Jennifer Heil takes on the role of Chef de Mission.

“Sport is definitely one of the best ways to showcase our national identity,” Heil said. “I feel more pride than ever to be Canadian, and I just feel really lucky and fortunate to get to elevate that pride on the world stage and within Canada.”

Heil made her Olympic debut at Salt Lake City 2002 as an 18-year-old. At both Turin 2006, where she took gold in women’s moguls, and Vancouver 2010, where she took silver in the same event, Heil set the tone for Team Canada by winning the first medal for the country at each of those Games.

READ: FAQ: What is a Chef de Mission?

At Milano Cortina 2026, she will set the tone once more, this time as the leader of the Canadian delegation. Heil’s Olympic experience makes her a strong resource for Canadian athletes, from those who will be first time Olympians to veteran medal hopefuls.

“I know what it is to stand on the podium, and I know what it is to perform with expectations. Some people say I had the most expectations of any athlete in 2010,” Heil said. “But I also know what it’s like trying to get on the podium in your first Olympic Games. And in my second Games, I was told the Olympic gold wasn’t mine to win, it was mine to lose.”

“I’ve seen it all, I’ve experienced it all, and felt it all deeply. But I think most importantly for my role here, is that I know the grind that it takes to show up,” she added.

Heil will draw inspiration for her own style of leadership from Canada’s diverse roster of past Chefs de Mission. 

“I think we do an amazing job in Canada of creating leaders that are community-oriented. I think we’ve seen that in every one of the Olympic athletes that have taken the position as Chef,” said Heil.

One moment stands out in particular in her memory.

“At the 2006 Olympics, I had just won gold, and our media attaché actually broke her foot and couldn’t be there,” Heil recalled. “I remember finishing the race, and Sylvie Bernier, who was our assistant Chef, was right there, and had the most beautiful smile and total warmth. The look in her eyes just said, ‘I got you.’ It was incredibly reassuring. And to this day, she’s a close friend and someone I still call for support when I’m navigating challenges in life.”

But Heil emphasizes her role as a resource to athletes not only at the Games, but also in the months leading up to them.

“For me, the Olympic golden moments are made in the day-to-day, and in the training,” Heil said. “I’m excited to be on the ground to celebrate those moments with athletes and to show Canadians those moments.”

While Heil is no stranger to winning, she stresses that sport is about so much more than medals, and that for Canadians to continue to reap the physical, mental and community health benefits of sport, it is crucial to invest in a thriving national sport system.

“We have an incredible team who is set to perform at the highest standard at the Olympics, but there’s been no new investment in sport since basically the beginning of my career,” she said.

Heil, now a 41-year-old mother of two, credits her athletic career with providing the foundation for her post-sport career. While she was still an active athlete, Heil co-founded B2Ten, a private sector initiative that assists Canadian athletes with training and preparation resources. While working with viaSport British Columbia, Heil led the design and development of B.C’s Safe Sport program, as well as health and public safety policy. Most recently, Heil is the founder and CEO of a women’s health tech startup, RYA Health.

“I think what sport offered me—the resiliency, the strength, the joy of embracing intensity—I distilled that down into a new career of building a health tech startup,” Heil said.

Equally though, Heil will be taking learnings from her post-sport career into her role as Chef de Mission.

“I think what I’ve learned outside of sport is that you don’t have to have all the answers. Leadership isn’t knowing all the answers, but it’s equally listening and bringing people together and guiding with purpose.”

READ: Everything you need to know about Milano Cortina 2026

Milano Cortina 2026 is perhaps an especially fitting Games for Heil to lead, as it will be the first  to include dual moguls on the Olympic stage. During her career, Heil was a three-time world champion in that event.

“I am just on the edge of my seat,” Heil said of the forthcoming dual moguls competition at Milano Cortina. “I think it’s going to be a crowd favourite. I mean, how can it not be? You have people going head-to-head!”

With less than a year to go before Team Canada heads to Italy, Heil hopes that Team Canada athletes and fans can take a moment to reflect on what makes us uniquely Canadian.

“We rise to challenges, we push boundaries, we lead by example. We do all those things, but we do it with a quiet strength.” 

And her own mission with less than a year until the Games? 

“I want to amplify that.”