Ashleigh McIvor
Encyclopedia
Ashleigh McIvor is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 freestyle skier
Freestyle skiing
Freestyle skiing is form of skiing which used to encompass two disciplines: aerials, and moguls. Except the two disciplines mentioned earlier Freestyle Skiing now consists of Skicross, Half Pipe and Slope Style...

 currently residing in Pemberton, British Columbia
Pemberton, British Columbia
Pemberton is a village north of Whistler in the Pemberton Valley of British Columbia in Canada, with a population of 2,192. Until the 1960s the village could be accessed only by train but that changed when Highway 99 was built through Whistler and Pemberton.-Climate:The climate of Pemberton is...

. McIvor is a member of the Canadian national ski cross team and became the first gold medal winner of women's ski cross at the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...

. She is also a former world champion in ski cross and has a second place finish at the Winter X Games to her credit as well.

Career

McIvor entered ski-cross at a young age, being one of the youngest on the World Cup circuit, and finishing second in her first overall race, she entered the X-Games soon after. She was soon a featured athlete during the X-Games, and became the face of women's ski cross. EXPN followed McIvor around and did a one-hour episode on her and what happens to X-Games athletes behind the scenes.
McIvor has participated with fashion photographers, modeled on runways, and secured major sportswear sponsorships because of her popularity.

McIvor started competing in 2003. She has been to four Winter X-Games, with her best finishes being 7th in X-Games 10 and X-Games VII. McIvor won her first World Championship in 2009 at Inawashiro, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. She also has four podium finishes on the FIS World Cup circuit to her credit, including a silver medal at Cypress Mountain
Cypress Mountain
- External links :* *...

 in 2009, the future site of the Vancouver Olympic Games. McIvor finished third overall on the 2008-09 FIS
International Ski Federation
The International Ski Federation, known by its name in French, Fédération Internationale de Ski is the main international organisation for ski sports...

 World Cup season.

Prior to the Winter Olympics, McIvor attended the 2010 Winter X Games
Winter X Games XIV
Winter X Games XIV were held from January 28 to January 31, 2010, in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 9th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen...

 as a final tuneup event. There, she and fellow countrywoman Kelsey Serwa
Kelsey Serwa
Kelsey Serwa is a Canadian freestyle skier. Serwa is a member of the Canadian national ski cross team. She is the reigning FIS World Champion and is also the reigning Winter X Games champion...

 managed to finish second and third respectively to Ophélie David
Ophélie David
Ophélie David is a French freestyle skier specializing in ski cross, an event in which she is the reigning six-time world champion in, and has won four consecutive times at the Winter X Games as well as being ranked number one in the world in since 2004.David began her career as an alpine skier,...

. McIvor's silver was her first X Games medal of any colour.

McIvor was a member of Canada's freestyle skiing team at the Vancouver Olympics where ski-cross was making its debut as an official medal event. Ashleigh McIvor successfully qualified for the medal round with the second fastest time. In the finals McIvor got out to a fast start and won with some distance between herself and Hedda Berntsen
Hedda Berntsen
Hedda Berntsen is a Norwegian sportsperson who has competed internationally in telemark skiing, alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and skicross. She is world champion in Telemark classic from 1997...

. With the win McIvor won the first ever Olympic gold medal for ladies' ski cross.

During the next season, McIvor suffered a catastrophic ACL
Anterior cruciate ligament
The anterior cruciate ligament is a cruciate ligament which is one of the four major ligaments of the human knee. In the quadruped stifle , based on its anatomical position, it is referred to as the cranial cruciate ligament.The ACL originates from deep within the notch of the distal femur...

 injury in her knee, ending her season while on a practice run at the Winter X Games
Winter X Games XIV
Winter X Games XIV were held from January 28 to January 31, 2010, in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 9th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen...

.

Personal

She had previously studied Business
Business school
A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in Business Administration. It teaches topics such as accounting, administration, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems, marketing, organizational behavior, public relations, strategy, human resource...

/Marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

 at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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