Mollie Jepsen

Mollie Jepsen (born September 17, 1999) is a Canadian alpine skier.

Mollie Jepsen
Mollie celebrating her Paralympic Super Combined victory, Pyeongchang 2018
Personal information
NationalityCanadian
Born (1999-09-17) September 17, 1999
Height1.43 m (4 ft 8 in)
Weight55 kg (121 lb)
Sport
CountryCanada
SportPara-alpine skiing
Coached byJean-Sebastien Labrie
Medal record
Women's para alpine skiing
Representing  Canada
Winter Paralympics
2018 PyeongchangSuper Combined standing
2018 PyeongchangSlalom standing
2018 PyeongchangDownhill standing
2018 PyeongchangGiant Slalom standing

Early life

Jepsen was born in West Vancouver, British Columbia without several fingers on her left hand. She learned to ski by the age of two and also took gymnastics classes.[1] Growing up, she attended West Vancouver Secondary which she graduated from in 2017.[2]

Career

She was influenced to start competitive skiing after watching the 2010 Winter Olympics and joined the Whistler Mountain Ski Club.[3] However, when she was 13 she tore her right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and again when she was 15.[1]

Despite this, she was selected to compete with Team Canada during the 2018–19 season.[4] Upon returning back to British Columbia after partaking in Team Canada's summer training camp in Chile, she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.[5] She qualified for the 2018 Winter Paralympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, where she won her first gold medal in the super combined event.[6] She also won a silver medal in the slalom and two bronze medals in downhill and giant slalom.[7]

Mollie reaching for the finish line and her Slalom Silver in 2018
Mollie on her way to a Giant Slalom bronze medal in Korea 2018

She was named the Female Para-Alpine Athlete of the Year at the Audi 2018 Canadian Ski Racing Awards[8] and the Best Female Athlete at the 2018 Canadian Paralympic Sport Awards.[9]

References
  1. Lungen, Paul (April 13, 2018). "MOLLIE JEPSEN – THE VANCOUVER SKIER WHO WON GOLD AT THE PARALYMPICS". Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  2. "Highlander Grad Off to Paralympics" (PDF). westvancouverschools.ca. March 1, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  3. Prest, Andy (March 6, 2018). "West Vancouver teen races to Paralympic Games". nsnews.com. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  4. "2018-19 ALPINE CANADA TEAM NOMINATIONS". alpinecanada.org. May 14, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  5. "Mollie Jepsen: My Crohn's challenge". paralympic.org. January 7, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  6. "Canadian roundup: Mollie Jepsen speeds to gold in alpine super combined". cbc.ca. March 12, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  7. "JEPSEN WINS HER FOURTH MEDAL OF PARALYMPICS WITH SILVER IN WOMen's SLALOM". alpinecanada.org. March 18, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  8. "Audi 2018 Canadian Ski Racing Awards presented by Helly Hansen Winners". sirc.ca. March 19, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  9. "Mollie Jepsen named Best Female Athlete". paralympic.org. October 31, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
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