BURSTFernie skier Dylan Marineau has achieved his long-time goal of competing in the Olympics.
Marineau, 27, was recently announced to Team Canada ahead of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy. He’ll be competing in free style halfpipe skiing in Livigno from Feb. 19-21.
Marineau made the Olympic roster after successful rankings in four World Cup competitions in the last month, where he achieved top eight scores. He narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2022 China Olympics, so he’ll have his redemption this year.
Originally from Calgary, Marineau grew up skiing in Fernie and currently calls the community home. He comes from a family of multi-generational sporting talent. His father Dennis competed in the Olympics in bobsledding in 1992.
“I grew up learning about the Olympics through him and having him tell me about stories from the Olympics. From a very early age, it was something that I wanted to do,” said Marineau.
“You could say we have sports in our blood.”
He began skiing at age three and entered freestyle competitions at age 11 in slopestyle and moguls. He later transferred to halfpipe, where he found more creative freedom on the slopes.
“There’s really no borders. You can express yourself any way you want to. There’s no set tricks you have to do,” he explained.
He’s really honed his focus over the years and worked to perfect tricks like switch hits, double corks, 1260 rotations and safety grabs. He has a few surprise tricks up his sleeve for the Olympics. He plans to try two moves he’s never done before, including one that’s never been attempted by anyone in a competition.
“It will be the hardest run I’ve ever attempted,” he said.
Marineau has been working hard at getting back in the game after he suffered an injury a few years ago right before the Canada Games. After an unsatisfactory round of scores, it was difficult to get back in the game mentally, but he’s finally on the precipice of reaching his long-time goal.
Marineau’s event will be televised on CBC.