Canadian snowboarder Elizabeth Hosking on a roll en route to Olympic halfpipe event

Canadian halfpipe snowboarder Elizabeth Hosking has lived the highs and lows of her sport.

Hosking was sixth at the Beijing Olympics in 2022, matching Canada’s second-best result ever at the games in the event, and won silver at the 2023 FIS World Championships, collecting Canada’s first-ever halfpipe world championship medal.

Then a concussion from a fall in training took her away from the sport for an entire season.

Symptoms would come and go, adding to the uncertainty and frustration. She eventually returned to international competition for the 2024-25 season and finished seventh at the 2025 FIS World Championships.

So the 24-year-old from Longueuil, Que., is more than grateful to compete at the Milan Cortina Games, her third Olympics.

“I definitely think I’m riding a lot for me,” Hosking said. 

“Just being on my snowboard, feeling free … I just love snowboarding so much,” she added. “But then competition, it just brings out another level in me that I can’t recreate anywhere else. And I’m just going to embrace that fully at these next Olympics.”

Hosking has looked good in World Cup competition in the buildup to the games, finishing 11th on Dec. 12 at Secret Garden, China, winning Jan. 3 in Calgary and placing seventh on Jan. 9 at Aspen and sixth on Jan. 17 at Laax, Switzerland.

“I feel I’m on a good run right now and I’m in a good place with my snowboarding,” said Hosking.

The win in Calgary, at the Snow Rodeo FIS Halfpipe World Cup, was Hosking’s first World Cup victory and made her the first Canadian woman to earn a halfpipe World Cup title since Maelle Ricker in Valle Nevado in 2002.

Hosking also became the first Canadian snowboarder to win a women’s World Cup halfpipe on home snow.

Ricker, now co-coach of the Canadian snowboard cross team, is a fan.

“She’s a student of the game,” she said of Hosking. “She really understands what high-performance sport is. And then she’s got that adrenalin-junky daredevil side, which is definitely required for the manoeuvres they’re doing in the halfpipe these days. And she’s very, very strong on her snowboard too.

“And she’s a total sweetheart too … She’s always positive. She’s always boosting everybody up around her.”

Hosking was just 16 at Pyeongchang when she finished 19th. “I keep saying it was like I had rose-coloured glasses the whole time,” she said.

It came and went quickly, with Hosking experiencing the enormity of the games as well as the media spotlight. Beijing was a different animal, locked down and devoid of fans due to the pandemic.

“Every Olympics, so far, has been so special. But this one is going to be a super-special one,” she said. “A super-different one as well, my first European Olympics. I’ve done two Asian Olympics, and I’m curious to see what the vibes are — if they’re different, if they’re not. And having my family back in Livigno will be super-, super-special.'”

Hosking will have her parents, as well as her older sister and her sister’s boyfriend, there. Unfortunately, Hosking’s brother and sister-in-law, as well as her girlfriend, can’t make it.

“It’s not the cheapest Olympics, that’s for sure, to get to as a spectator,” she lamented.

Hosking comes into the competition with a game plan in mind, looking to play to her strengths.

“Your best defence is your best offence,” she explained. “Just go with how you know to ride, do the best that you can do. And when I do that, more so than when I’m trying to beat someone else, that’s when things go more right than anything — when I go in, and I’m like ‘OK, I know what I want to do. I know how to do these tricks. I’m just going to ride how I know how to ride.'” 

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that an athlete who lists reading horror/psychological thrillers among her hobbies counts the front-side crippler as one of her favourite moves in the halfpipe. Essentially, it’s a 540-degree backflip done on the front-side wall.

Hosking does it with her own signature flair.

“I look different when I do it … I’ve done it so many times. I can go so high when I do that, I’m just able to see everything around me,” she enthused. 

“It’s super fun. Especially with that trick,” she added. “I feel like I’m so in control when I go big on it. Even if it doesn’t go 100 per cent right, I’m so in control of that trick.”

Hosking has learned accept the nerves that accompany a big stage.

“I don’t want to push them away, because they’re there. I actually just want to reframe it and embrace the nerves. They will be there. The butterflies will be there. I can’t shy away from them.”

“It is a big event,” she said of the Olympics. “But at the same time, you’re here because you worked hard to be here.”

And the snowboarding itself is nothing new.

“Once I’m in the halfpipe, I’m like ‘These are all the same people that I’ve seen for the past four years.'”

Hosking says the competition in women’s halfpipe is so deep that there is no shortage of riders who could make the podium.

Hosking likes to listen to female rappers when she warms up, with Cardi B, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion among the preferred choices. 

When it comes to competitions, she dips into a playlist of favourite songs, skipping tunes until she finds the right one. Other times, it could be a 2010 pop playlist, reminding her of the music playing at her local hill when she started snowboarding. 

Hosking is bringing four boards to the games, “just in case.” She uses a Whitespace SW Pro board from the company founded by legendary snowboarder/skateboarder Shaun White.

The Canadian snowboard halfpipe team also includes 20-year-old Brooke D’Hondt, who was the youngest member of the Canadian team in Beijing, where she finished 10th. The newcomer on the team is 18-year-old Felicity Geremia, who competed at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games.

All three compete with a message written in duct tape on their board, courtesy of coach Bud Keene. The message varies, but is often a simple “Let’s Go” on competition days. 

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2026.