CALGARY – Rachael Karker says it “feels unreal” to accomplish what she set out to do and bring home a bronze medal from the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The 24-year-old Erin resident claimed the bronze medal in the women’s freeski halfpipe event with a score of 87.75 in her first run of the final on Feb. 18 at Genting Snow Park.
“I was mostly just trying to … not put too much pressure (on myself),” Karker said, recalling the moments before she made her first descent of the halfpipe.
“It’s just skiing, it’s what I do all the time.”
That’s all she needed to focus on, Karker said, noting she’s pretty good at compartmentalizing during competitions.
“When I’m skiing through the halfpipe that’s the only thing I’m thinking about is just skiing,” she said. “And not any of the other crazy stuff going on.”
Although Karker followed her first run with two additional clean runs, her first descent into the halfpipe proved strong enough to land her a place on the podium.
Asked how she felt after putting down that first run, Karker said she was relieved.
“It wasn’t a great day weather wise, and that definitely wasn’t the hardest run I could have done,” she explained.
“I was mostly just relieved I was able to get one done. And then I could go and try to do better.”
The win marked Canada’s 12th bronze medal in Beijing and 22nd medal overall. Canada went on to finish with 26 medals at the Games, good enough for fourth place overall.
Karker said it felt amazing to accomplish what she set out to do.
“I really wanted to medal there, and it was just crazy that I was able to do it,” she explained. “It feels unreal.”
‘Double podium’
Karker was one of two Canadians to make the podium in her event.
Cassie Sharpe of Comox, B.C. finished with a personal best score of 90.75 points for her second Olympic medal after winning the event four years ago in Pyeongchang.
“To get a double podium was crazy,” Karker said.
“Cassie and I have hit a lot of podiums together over the last four years, but to add that one to it was just super great and a huge win for Canada as a whole.”
The Canadians skiers followed behind China’s Eileen Gu who scored a 95.25 for the gold.
Karker scored an 89.5 in the qualifiers the previous day, placing her in second among 20 competitors with the top 12 moving on to Friday’s final.
Competing with COVID
With the COVID-19 pandemic, these Winter Olympics looked a little different than most.
Karker said while she was stressed ahead of her departure, the COVID stress lessened once she arrived in Beijing and received her negative test results.
Competitors were tested upon their arrival to the airport in Beijing.
From there, they were required to isolate in their rooms until they got the results back.
“It was between getting that test done and getting the results that was really stressful,” Karker explained.
After that, with the bubble being so tight, she said they pretty much knew there’d be a very low chance of anyone in the village having COVID.
“So it sort of took that pressure off once we were there, like, ‘Oh, we made it, it’s okay, it’ll be fine,’” she said.
“And we still had our protocols. We had masks and we had distancing, but it actually took a big weight off our shoulders, and we were finally there we were able to just relax and then go train and compete.”
Moving the sport forward
As a first-time Olympic competitor, Karker is one of many female skiers moving the sport forward for women in the Olympics.
“It feels amazing,” she said of being able to help it evolve. “I mean, there’s been many before me who have helped push the sport, especially in Canada, and try to get more girls involved.
“And I’m just really hoping that what Cassie and I did at the Olympics can help grow the sport further and inspire more young girls to start skiing.”
Since her return from China, Karker’s been soaking in her achievement in Calgary, but she’s looking forward to returning to Erin for a few weeks.
She’ll also be looking to start school again in the spring, but with a spring camp starting at the end of March, she will be getting back into training to ready herself for next season.
“We don’t compete again until next winter, so mostly just training and school and hopefully some downtime to relax a little bit,” she said of her immediate plans.
