Tales of redemption: Canada adds Olympic medals in halfpipe, speedskating, curling

Cassie Sharpe described her devastating injury and the recovery that followed as going to hell and back.

Now the Canadian has another Olympic medal to show for that tumultuous year that took a physical and mental toll.

Just over a year after suffering a serious injury at the Winter X Games, Sharpe won silver in the women’s freeski halfpipe at the

Beijing Olympics Friday ahead of friend and teammate Rachael Karker, who took home bronze.

Neither Canadian could match Chinese sensation Eileen Gu, who captured gold for her third medal in Beijing.

Speedskater Laurent Dubreuil added to Canada’s medal count later by winning silver in the men’s 1,000 metres after Brad Gushue defeated the United States to claim bronze in men’s curling.

For a time it looked like Sharpe wouldn’t even get the chance to defend her freeski halfpipe gold from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

The 29-year-old from Calgary broke her femur and tore the ligaments in her left knee in a crash in January 2021. Reconstructive surgery followed by nine months of physical rehabilitation meant Sharpe only had four months of skiing to prepare for Beijing.

“Exactly a year ago I had reconstructive ACL knee surgery in which they fractured my femur,” she said. “It was just a crazy experience to go through that and the first three, four months after surgery, I didn’t know if I would make it here.

“Being able to flip it around and get on snow just under four months ago and make it to the Games and get a podium, I’m extremely proud and pretty satisfied with my performance.”

The weeks after surgery were some of the toughest of Sharpe’s life.

“The first six weeks after surgery, I went to hell and I luckily have a very supportive family that helped pull me out of that and get me back on track and give me a kick in the butt,” she said.

On Friday at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, Sharpe held down the silver position behind Gu through all three rounds with an 89.00 and a 90.00 in her first and second runs respectively. She scored 90.75 on her third run to clinch silver.

Karker, from Erin, Ont., scored 87.75 on her first run in her Olympic debut.

“It was amazing,” she said. “Cassie and I have shared so many podiums over the years and I’m so happy we were also able to get this one.”

A few hours later, Canada increased its medal count to 24 when Dubreuil reached the podium.