Kelsey Serwa (born September 1, 1989) is a Canadian retired

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 ...

who was a member of the Canadian national

ski cross Ski cross is a skiing competition which incorporates terrain features traditionally found in freestyle skiing with courses which include big-air jumps and high-banked turns. In spite of the fact that it is a timed racing event, it is often cons ...

team. She won a gold medal at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

and a silver medal at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

. She is the 2011 FIS World Champion and two times

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 addition, she has won a bronze medal at the 2010 X Games.

Competitive career

Serwa won a national championship in 2009 at

Canada Olympic Park Canada Olympic Park (COP), formerly known as Paskapoo Ski Hill, is a ski hill and multi-purpose training and competition facility located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, owned and operated by WinSport. It is currently used both for high performance at ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, defeating world champion

Ashleigh McIvor Ashleigh McIvor DeMerit (born September 15, 1983) is a Canadian retired freestyle skier currently residing in Whistler, British Columbia. McIvor was a member of the Canadian national ski cross team and became the first gold medal winner of wome ...

. Serwa won her first world cup event on January 13, 2009 at the

Alpe d'Huez L'Alpe d'Huez () is a ski resort in southeastern France at . It is a mountain pasture in the Central French Western Alps, in the commune of Huez, which is part of the department of Isère in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is part of th ...

course after these finals were canceled on the 2009–10 Freestyle Skiing World Cup. Serwa won her first outright world cup race later that season at Lake Placid on January 24, 2010. At the 2010 Winter X Games two weeks before the Olympics, Serwa managed to win a bronze at the famous cash event, fellow countrywoman

had finished second. Serwa was a member of the Canadian Olympic team that competed in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in her home province of British Columbia. Serwa's bronze at the

and third overall ranking on the world cup put her in as a medal favourite at the Olympics in Vancouver. She advanced to the semi-finals, but finished third in her heat and did not make the medal final. However, she competed in the "small final", which she won, finishing fifth overall. During the next season Serwa won the gold at the

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

with a dramatic finish flying 150 feet in the air and crashing out badly injured, but the champion. Serwa carried her X Games winning momentum into the 2011 World Championships. There she qualified as the fourth fastest skier, Serwa then went on to finish first in the final ahead of teammate

Julia Murray Julia Murray (born December 23, 1988) is a Canadian retired freestyle skier and resides in Whistler, British Columbia. Murray was a member of the Canadian national ski cross team for 6 years. She was a FIS World Championships silver medalist in ...

. With the victory she completed the seasonal sweep of the two biggest ski cross events in the world. On February 21, 2014, Serwa won silver in women's ski cross during her second Olympics, finishing behind gold medalist and Canadian teammate Marielle Thompson. Serwa suffered a training accident in December 2016 and considered retirement from ski cross, but ultimately returned to the sport following knee surgery. She subsequently earned a place on Canada's ski cross team for the

. Serwa went on to win the gold medal in women's ski cross, with her teammate

Brittany Phelan Brittany Phelan (born September 24, 1991) is a Canadian freestyle skier who competes in ski cross. She was formerly an alpine skier, specializing in slalom skiing. She won the silver medal in women's ski cross at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pye ...

winning the silver medal. On July 4, 2019, Serwa announced her retirement from competitive ski cross, after ten years on the national team.

Personal life

Serwa's grandfather, Clifford Jack Serwa, was a co-founder of the

Big White Ski Resort Big White Ski Resort, or simply Big White, is a ski resort located southeast of Kelowna in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. It is located on Big White Mountain, the highest summit in the Okanagan Highland, an upland area between the M ...

, and later a longtime member of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

representing

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part ...

. Serwa married Stan Rey, a retired competitive ski cross athlete, in 2019. She began studying

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health ...

at the University of British Columbia at Okanagan.

World Cup results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Season standings

Race Podiums

* 8 wins – (8 SX) * 20 podiums – (20 SX)

Olympic results

* 2 medals – (1 gold, 1 silver)

World Championships results

* 1 medal – (1 gold) a. Kelsey Serwa suffered a knee injury in the training and was unable to compete in the race.

References

External links

* * * * *
CBC Sochi 2014 profileAlpine Canada profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serwa, Kelsey 1989 births Living people Canadian female freestyle skiers Freestyle skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic freestyle skiers of Canada Olympic medalists in freestyle skiing Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic silver medalists for Canada Sportspeople from Kelowna X Games athletes