Marie-Michèle Gagnon (born 25 April 1989) is a Canadian former alpine ski racer.

Career

Gagnon joined the Canadian national team at the age of eighteen, although a leg fracture halted her progress at the start of her rookie season. She made her World Cup debut in December

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and has represented Canada at two

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

and six

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. Gagnon's first World Cup podium came in March

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, a third-place in a slalom at

Åre Åre () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpe ...

, Sweden. Her first victory was in January

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, a combined event at Altenmarkt, Austria. which was the first podium for a Canadian in a World Cup combined event in thirty years. The previous day she scored her first World Cup points in downhill at the same venue. That season she also took her first top ten World Cup finishes in

super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event ...

, finishing tenth and sixth in races in Lake Louise and

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

respectively. At the

, Gagnon crashed out of the slalom run of the combined, dislocating her shoulder, before failing to finish the

and

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in Slalom skiing, slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant sl ...

, and securing a ninth place in the slalom. She finished thirteenth in the overall World Cup standings and sixth in slalom. In January 2022, Gagnon was named to Canada's 2022 Olympic team.

Personal life

Gagnon was the third of five siblings and left the family home at age twelve to pursue her education and ski racing in

Mont-Sainte-Anne Mont-Sainte-Anne is a ski resort in eastern Canada, located in the town of Beaupré, Quebec, about northeast of Quebec City. The mountain is part of the Laurentian mountain chain and has a summit elevation of above sea level with a vertical ...

and

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. Her childhood idols included Mélanie Turgeon,

Geneviève Simard Geneviève Simard (born November 5, 1980) is a Canadian alpine skier. She has appeared in two Winter Olympics, in 2002 and 2006. She is now a world-famous helicopter pilot featured in ''Hélico tous terrains'', a Quebec TV show about a bush helic ...

, and

Erik Guay Erik Guay () (born August 5, 1981) is a Canadian former FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. Racing out of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Guay won the World Cup season title in super-G in 2010 Alpine Skiing World Cup, 201 ...

. Gagnon has been in a relationship with American alpine racer

Travis Ganong Travis Scott Ganong (born July 14, 1988) is an American World Cup alpine ski racer and specializes in the speed events of downhill and super-G. Born and raised in Truckee, California, he competed for the U.S. at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Soch ...

since 2008. The pair met through mutual friend Louis-Pierre Hélie; in 2014, the couple moved to a new home in

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; Washo language, Washo: ''dáʔaw'') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest a ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. They became engaged at the

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

on 15 September 2021. They married in July 2024.

World Cup results

Season titles

* 1 title ( 1 combined) :Crystal globes in combined were not awarded during these seasons, but medals were.

Season standings

Race podiums

* 2 wins – (2 SC) * 5 podiums – (2 SL, 2 SC, 1 SG); 61 top tens

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

*
Marie-Michèle Gagnon
World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation *
Marie-Michèle Gagnon
at

Alpine Canada Alpine Canada () is the national governing body for alpine, para-alpine and ski cross racing in Canada. Alpine Canada represents coaches, officials, supporters and athletes, including the racers of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, Canadian Ski Cros ...

* * * * . . {{DEFAULTSORT:Gagnon, Marie-Michele 1989 births Living people Canadian female alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers for Canada Sportspeople from Lévis, Quebec 21st-century Canadian sportswomen