ATHABASCA — One Athabasca skier is still hitting the slopes across the country this spring after bringing home a bronze medal at the Junior Nationals and potentially more following a trip south to Alberta Championships 2025 in Calgary this past weekend.
Fourteen-year-old William Gibbs was excited to see a new province, lay down solid runs on the hill, and learn lots about moguls skiing ahead of his first trip to the Freestyle Ski Junior Nationals at Le Relais Ski Club Mar. 19-23.
And Gibbs did more than that during his performances in the single and dual moguls and the aerials categories, bringing home a bronze medal for all three category scores combined, having never competed in aerials before.
“It was pretty cool, we got to meet a lot of new people,” said Gibbs in a Mar. 26 interview. Gibbs answered questions about his Jr. Nationals trip on the way down to Calgary to compete in the Alberta Championships 2025.
“Nobody was doing (aerials), it was a pretty small sport, so most of the moguls just did it for fun, but it was a really cool experience learning something new.”
While his first attempt at aerials was successful, Gibbs said he would enter aerials again for fun if the opportunity presented itself, but wants to continue to focus on his specialization in moguls with the Tawatinaw Valley Freeriders and get to more tournaments like the Canada Cup, and move up in the rankings.
Gibbs, who got into skiing during the COVID-19 pandemic, tried his hand at moguls, slopestyle, and dual moguls in Calgary, but results of the competition were not available before publication.
Dario Aleixandre places 4th
Another Athabasca athlete ended their skiing season out east this spring, missing the podium by one spot but clocking a respectable performance in his first appearance at Junior Nationals in Quebec.
Dario Aleixandre, 15, qualified for both the Junior Nationals and Eastern Canada Cup, hosted at Beaver Valley Ski Club near Lake Huron in Ontario Mar. 13-16, and was slated to compete in moguls for both.
“I feel excited, also nervous. I think it’s going to be good, though,” said an anticipatory Aleixandre in early March. “It’ll be a great experience to travel to Ontario and Quebec and ski with all of the skiers out east.”
Due to a last-minute injury, Aleixandre wasn’t able to compete in the Canada Cup, but his withdrawal left him ready with enough time to heal up for Junior Nationals. After laying down two good runs in single moguls, and like Gibbs, trying his hat at aerials for the first time, he came in fourth place, missing a tie for bronze by only two points.
Aleixandre started freestyle skiing with the Tawatinaw Valley Freeriders at only nine years old, now trains with the Proline Mogul Team out of Calgary. He made the switch from snowboarding in 2018 after being wowed by the moves skiers pulled out.
“One day I went out to Tawatinaw and I saw a bunch of kids doing all these cool flips and stuff on the mogul run, and I was like ‘I want to do that,’” said Aleixandre.
As Aleixandre’s spring season wraps up, he has sights set even higher than he did for 2024-2025 — the young athlete hopes to compete in the Freestyle Open next year, and work his way towards the top in events like Junior Nationals and Canada Cup.
