Elena Gaskell

Biography

Elena Gaskell was set to make her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022 but on the last day of training at the big air venue she suffered a knee injury on a landing. Diagnosed with a torn ACL and meniscus as well as a bone bruise on her femur, she was unable to compete and underwent surgery after returning home.

She returned to snow in January 2023 and rejoined the national team for summer training camps at which she worked on getting her tricks back. But before she could return to competition, adversity struck again in January 2024. Gaskell took a hard fall in training that resulted in another torn ACL and meniscus as well as a fractured tibia and cartilage damage. She underwent another surgery and started rehab once again, a tough mental process as well as a physical one. In November 2024, there was another procedure to clean up her knee before she could return to snow in February 2025.

It was in October 2025 that Gaskell was finally able to compete for the first time since her Olympic debut was derailed. She broke into the top 10 in the first big air World Cup of her comeback in November. In January 2026, she got back onto a World Cup podium, finishing third in slopestyle in Aspen. She followed up with a fifth-place finish in slopestyle at the Laax Open.

Gaskell was a double gold medallist in slopestyle and big air for Team B.C. at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George. Standing atop the podium representing her province made her realize how great it would be to one day represent Canada internationally. She got that chance in February 2016 when she won gold in her first Nor-Am Cup slopestyle event in Calgary. 

Gaskell got her first taste of World Cup competition in February 2017 at the Canadian-hosted slopestyle event in Quebec City. She joined the World Cup team fulltime in 2017-18, highlighted by two fifth place finishes in March, one each in slopestyle and big air. 

At the opener of the 2018-19 World Cup season in Cardrona, New Zealand, Gaskell won big air gold for her first career World Cup podium and victory. She also finished fourth in a big air World Cup in November before winning big air bronze in Quebec City in March, ranking her first overall in the big air World Cup standings for the season. Gaskell made her debut at two major events in 2019, the FIS World Championships and the Winter X Games in Aspen, competing in big air at both.  

In January 2020, Gaskell won her first World Cup slopestyle medal, taking bronze in Seiser Alm, Italy. But a partially torn meniscus that required surgery cut her season short. She did not compete during the pandemic-impacted 2020-21 season. 

When she returned for the big air World Cup opener in October 2021, she won bronze in Chur, Switzerland. She added a fourth-place finish in big air in December in Steamboat, Colorado. 

A Little More About Elena

Getting into the Sport: Started skiing at age 4 with her family and joined a freestyle club at age 6… Had seen her brother hit what seemed like a big jump and decided she was going to try it too; ended up with a bloody nose after falling but the lack of fear she showed is the same mindset she has carried throughout her career… Outside Interests: Enjoys going to the gym, reading, playing piano, golfing… Odds and Ends: Favourite motto: “Everything happens for a reason”… Became the youngest recipient of the Spirit of Sarah Scholarship in 2014, given to aspiring women skiers in memory of Canadian Olympian Sarah Burke…