Naude edges closer to Olympic dream

CA LGA RY • A heartbroken Andi Naude cuddled with her cats on the couch while watching the 2014 Olympic moguls competition on TV.

Ranked ninth in the world at the time, Naude narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Sochi Games, where Justine and Chloe DufourLapointe won gold and silver respectively for Canada. She pledged to channel her disappointment into qualifying for the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea.

Mission accomplished. On Tuesday, Freestyle Canada provisionally nominated Naude, Justine DufourLapointe and Mikael Kingsbury to the 2018 Olympic moguls team. The trio only needs to finish in the top12 — and in the top two-thirds of the field — at an eligible World Cup to officially book passage to Pyeo- ngChang. “This means the world to me, this early nomination,” Naude, of Penticton, B.C., said Tuesday. “The stress of qualification has been fully relieved.”

Due to the depth of the Canadian freestyle team, legitimate medal contenders are routinely left at home due to the limited number of Olympic spots granted to each country (Canada can send a maximum of four male and four female athletes in each discipline to PyeongChang).

Thanks to her two World Cup podiums in 2016-17, Naude can relax, knowing she’s already cleared the first major hurdle on the road to the Olympics.

“To have that stress relieved and to be able to focus more on skiing and not so much on the results — that’s just a dream come true,” she said. By watching the Sochi Games from her living room, the 21-year-old Naude realized the Olympics, at the core, are much like a World Cup. The names of the competitors are the same. The course is the same. The judging is the same.

JACQUES BOISSINOT / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Andi Naude, left, is savouring her chance to ski for Canada at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.