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MEETGILLIAN
Gillian Golosky is a 17-year-old Collingwood native who is currently a
member of the Ontario Freestyle Ski Team. We caught up with Gillian
sleeping off some serious jetlag after returning from a month-long training
camp with the team inAustralia. While her current training schedule has
her juggling high school and the high-level prep required for the upcoming
competition season, she started out as a young girl, tagging along with
her sister in the Blue Mountain Terrain Park.
Like many young Blue Mountain skiers, Golosky has been skiing for as
long as she can remember. She raced in the JozoWeider Race Program
and dabbled in snowboarding but it was when she got her terrain park
pass and began spending weeknights in the park with her sister that she
really started to find her groove. Shortly after that she started competing
with the Blue Mountain Freestyle Team—a move that kick-started her
competitive career.
“I was eight when I started in the terrain park,” recalls Golosky. “My sister
had to babysit me onweeknights and therewasn’t really a place she could
takeme on the ski hill sowe ended up in the terrain park. I was definitely a
guinea pigwhen I skiedwithmy sister and I slowly got better. The next year
I joined the BlueMountain Freestyle Teamwhile still playing rep basketball
and rep soccer. I took a year off the Blue Mountain team but I missed it. I
came back and I got really comfortable skiing half pipe. I went to provincials
that year with no real experience. The half pipe day was bluebird and I had a
lot of fun and ended up winning my first big competition.”
Things progressed quickly after that. “The next year was make it or break
it,” explains Golosky. “I had never spun off a jump but that year I learned
how to domy first 360. I remember being really happy about it and
that’s what started it all. That was the season that I went from the Blue
Mountain team to the Regional Team to the Ontario Team I’m on now. I
started to realize I had the potential to be really good at this sport.” In
2015, Golosky finished 2nd at the CanadaWinter Games in BigAir—an
accomplishment she considers a career highlight so far.
Even as a young girl, Golosky had her eye on the Olympics. “For as long
as I can remember, growing up in school, you had to draw pictures or
write down what you wanted to be. I always said that I wanted to go to
the Olympics. In those early years, I just hadn’t found what I was good
at. I played soccer, basketball, I snowboarded but nothing stood out as
much as skiing.” After struggling with injuries last year, Golosky says she’s
unlikely to be ready for Seoul, but her goal to compete at theWinter
Games in the future still stands.
In the meantime, Golosky continues to grow as an athlete and a person.
After struggling with injuries in 2016, she’s realized there are other ways
tomeasure success than competition results. She has set her goals high
for this season but with a new postscript. “I want to be on the podium
at most events and to put down the run I’ve been dreaming of. A coach
would ask you, ‘If you were to do your dream run on this course, what
would it be?’ To be able to land that run would be unreal. Hopefully that
gets me on the podium; if it doesn’t, it would still be a huge win for me.
Making it on the podiumwould be a bonus.”
GillianGolosky'sSponsors:ElanSkis,O'Neill,Fulltilt,Swany,BlueMountain.
“A coachwouldaskyou, ‘If youwere todoyour
dream runon this course,whatwould it be?’
Tobeable to land that runwouldbeunreal.
Hopefully that getsmeon thepodium; if it
doesn’t, itwouldstill beahugewin.”
—GillianGolosky
