Australia's Indra Brown celebrates her victory on the podium following the women's World Cup freeski halfpipe event in Calgary, on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY — Cassie Sharpe wanted more. The Canadian freestyle ski star was frustrated after finishing off the podium Saturday in a halfpipe she considers her home.

The reigning women's X Games Aspen champion and two-time Olympic medallist ranked third after her opening run, which she finished with a 1080 (three aerial rotations) and a fist pump.

But the 2018 Olympic women's champ fell and didn't complete her second run in WinSport's pipe that was slower than in qualifying because of falling snow. The Canadian was bumped out of podium position to fifth.

"Tough weather conditions. It was just slowing down, slowing down," Sharpe said.

"A podium would have been awesome but just having those contest nerves and running through the process of dropping in for a contest and making sure that you can use that energy is important."

Helping ease Sharpe's transition from disappointment to philosophical was her two-year-old daughter Louella in the finish area.

"Having her is a realization that, 'Yeah, this matters a lot to me but I also have bigger, bigger fish to fry,'" said the 33-year-old Sharpe.

"She's my little cheerleader. When I come down and I'm pissed off or I have a crash, it's super-nice to have her at the bottom smiling big at me and saying, 'You did good, mama.'"

Canada will send up to four men and four women to compete in halfpipe next month at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Sharpe, from Comox, B.C., and Calgary's Amy Fraser had already met the criteria to make Canada's Olympic team before Calgary's World Cup.

Fraser, who was sixth Saturday, was working on a big score on her second pass through the pipe when she bobbled her final move, which was a two-and-a-half rotation 900.

"I am coming back from a shoulder injury, and it's the shoulder that I have to swing with, my right one, and it was pretty sore," said Fraser.

"I have a lot more to improve upon. I know I have a lot in the tank."

Calgary's halfpipe was the third World Cup this season after the opener in China and the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colo.

The field was missing a few big names as athletes manage their bodies ahead of the Jan. 23-25 X Games in Aspen, Colo., and the Olympics.

Neither reigning women's world champion Zoe Atkin of Britain nor Olympic champion Eileen Gu of China competed in Calgary. That left room for 15-year-old Indra Brown of Australia to continue her breakout season with her first World Cup victory and her third podium in three starts.

"It's incredible," Brown said. "I've just been training hard this season, so to be able to put all my training out in a competition run and show people what I've been working on is just a super-special feeling. I'm just full of joy."

Kexin Zhang of China was second and Svea Irving of the U.S. was third among women.

Calgary's Brendan Mackay, the 2023 men's world champion, qualified for Saturday's final, but withdrew because of a lower-body injury.

Mackay's fiancée, Rachael Karker of Erin, Ont., who earned Olympic bronze in 2022 behind silver medallist Sharpe, didn't compete in Calgary because of a knee injury.

Veteran freestyler Nick Goepper of the U.S. took men's gold Saturday ahead of runner-up Finley Melville Ives of New Zealand and bronze medallist Birk Irving of the U.S.

At 31 years old, Goepper became the oldest man to win a World Cup halfpipe.

Calgary's Dylan Marineau helped his Olympic prospects as the top Canadian man in sixth.

The 27-year-old competed wearing the Calgary Flames' black third jersey that features the horse "Blasty" on the front.

"Ever since my very first halfpipe World Cup, I've been wearing a Flames jersey," Marineau said. "I'm not superstitious, but it's definitely a bit of a good-luck charm."

Marineau will continue to chase an Olympic berth Jan. 8-10 at the next World Cup in Aspen.

Both Sharpe and Fraser will skip it to continue training at Calgary's halfpipe.

"I definitely am looking forward to just training and putting some work in this next week coming up and locking in everything," Sharpe said.

Sharpe, Fraser, Mackay and Karker have been invited to X Games Aspen, which is the final event before the Winter Games for many of the world's top skiers and snowboarders.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 3, 2026.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2026