Kaya Turski (born May 3, 1988) is a Canadian

freestyle skier Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and ...

. She is an eight-time

Winter X Games Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures d ...

champion in Women's Ski slope style. At the 2010

Winter X Games XIV Winter X Games XIV were held from January 28 to January 31, 2010, in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 9th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen. The events were broadcast on ESPN. Sports The following were the events at Winter X Games 14. ...

held in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...

, she won her gold medal with the highest ever slopestyle score at a Winter X Games with 96.66. One week after she won the gold medal in ''Slopestyle'' at the 2011

Winter X Games XV Winter X Games XV (styled as Winter X Games Fifteen in the official logo) were held from January 26 to January 30, 2011, in Aspen, Colorado. They are the 10th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen. The events were broadcast on ESPN. Sport ...

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...

, ahead of

Keri Herman Keri Marie Herman (born August 16, 1982) is an American freestyle skier and US Olympian. She placed 10th in Slopestyle at the 2014 Sochi Games. She won a silver medal in ''Slopestyle'' at the 2011 Winter X Games XV in Aspen, Colorado, behind Kay ...

and

Grete Eliassen Grete Eliassen (born September 21, 1986 in Lutsen, Minnesota) is an American-Norwegian freestyle skier. She won a bronze medal in ''Slopestyle'' at the 2011 Winter X Games XV in Aspen, Colorado, behind Kaya Turski and Keri Herman. She has won 6 ...

, she captured the silver medal at the 2011 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships, behind

Anna Segal Anna Segal (born 15 August 1986) is an Australian Olympic Freestyle skiing, freestyle slopestyle, slopestyle skier and two-time world champion. Segal won the gold medal for the inaugural Women's Ski Slopestyle at Winter X Games 13 at Buttermilk ...

of Australia. In mid-2013, she tore her

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

. Involved in

aggressive inline skating Aggressive inline skating (referred to by participants as rollerblading, blading, skating, street skating, rolling, roller freestyle or freestyle rolling) is a sub-discipline of inline skating in the action sports canon. Aggressive inline skates ...

in her early teen years, Turski had limited experience in skiing when she moved to Whistler from Montreal to train in the sport, aged 17. She speaks English, French, and Polish. Her grandmother was a Polish skier who moved to Canada with her two sons after World War II. Kaya currently resides in Montreal and

Mammoth Lakes, CA Mammoth Lakes is a town in Mono County, California, and is the county's only incorporated community. It is located immediately to the east of Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,191, r ...

. She participated in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. On October 3, 2017, Turski announced her retirement from freestyle skiing.

References

External links

* * Living people Canadian female freestyle skiers Skiers from Montreal X Games athletes 1988 births Freestyle skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic freestyle skiers for Canada Canadian people of Polish descent People from Mammoth Lakes, California {{Canada-freestyle-skiing-bio-stub