Words: Jake Stern 2022-01-19 14:36:26
“Maggie Voisin lets gravity do the work at Northern Escape Heli skiing in Terrace, BC. At 5’3”, the pint-sized powerhouse brings the level of energy you might expect from a much larger human—and the skill level you would only find in a true professional.” Photo: Andrew Marshall Whitefish, MT, native Maggie Voisin, a slopestyle veteran at just 23 years old, is one of the best competitive skiers of her generation. She’s tasted plenty of winner’s champagne, but knows the bitterness of a season-ending crash. Voisin broke her fibula in a crash during a practice run for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, tore her ACL at the 2014 Dew Tour finals, came in fourth at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and re-tore her ACL in 2019 just before her first competition of the season. Despite those setbacks, she dominated last year, winning three X Games medals, including a gold in slopestyle. Eyeing a return to the Olympics for a third time at Beijing 2022, Voisin was nearly derailed by another knee injury and the untimely loss of her brother. Now she’s determined to lower the heat of her own expectations, though it’s undeniable that she’s chasing freeskiing history. As she prepares for one more Olympic push, Voisin wants the world to know she’s less interested in her grandiose career arc, and more on telling her story in her own terms. Growing up in Whitefish, the Tanner Hall influence was everywhere. His mom would come to our local events shepherding some of his cousins around, and it’s definitely a part of why the X Games are the pinnacle of the sport to me. Going into my 2020 season, I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself knowing I was coming back from my second ACL [tear]. Maybe that was the reason I had such a good year. I ended up podiuming at every Slopestyle event that I participated in. Hurting my knee again at Mount Hood in 2020 was so, so crushing. I got surgery that August and then wasn’t back on snow until December, so I missed a whole ’nother fall of training. Rehab is something that I know very well. I put in the work and got back on my skis in December. Early this year I lost my brother suddenly, which really halted my world. It was hard to focus on skiing after that. I missed X Games, thinking, “Wow, skiing doesn’t really matter” for a while. I spent a lot of time at home. That time with my family and my people was something I needed to do for myself. I needed to heal and process his loss. I ended up only competing once last year, the Olympic qualifier in Aspen, CO. I want to be real about it—it was an unbelievably tough season for me. Physically, I felt good and strong, but I just didn’t ski that much. My confidence was not there; going through such a big loss rocked my world. So I thought, “Hey, I’m going to do the Olympic qualifier and ski as best as I can and be proud of myself for doing that, then take the rest of the season off and let myself train.” I’m not particularly interested in the story that Beijing will be redemption for me. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. It’s so easy to get caught up in that narrative, but at the end of the day, it’s my career. Whenever I get overwhelmed with the idea of a third-time redemption, I instead think about how I want to showcase my skiing. That lets me put my head down and do the work. That’s when I do my best. The Olympics is the biggest world’s stage for sports. Ever. But when I was growing up, I never saw my sport there. Freeskiing in the Olympics is only a few Games old. It wasn’t why I dreamed of being a professional skier, but the qualifiers have been amazing. Women’s freeskiing is progressing at a mind-blowing rate and it’s such a gift to be in the mix with these women. These days you can expect to see dub 10s and 12s from women. If you want to make finals and you do want to get on the podium, you are going to have to push it.
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MAGGIE VOISIN DOES THE WORK
https://digital.theskijournal.com/articles/maggie-voisin-does-the-work