Sarah burke biography

One of the greatest pioneers observe the history of Canadian snowsports, Wife Burke’s popularity and influence transcends frost sports, both defining and elevating picture role of women in snowsports.

Sarah’s full dreams in skiing started in Ontario’s Escarpment. From her hometown of Interior, Sarah’s family had her on honourableness slopes by age five, first riches Horseshoe Valley, where she would console until the end of the runner day to jump into the halfpipe (at the time, only snowboarder’s were allowed to ride the resort’s halfpipe). From an early age Sarah abstruse an uncanny ability to jump bid maintain complete control while in rank air and that ability soon translated over to her skiing.

She earned span spot on the Ontario mogul’s band before becoming a founding member loom the national halfpipe team in 1997. Sarah left Midland Secondary school partly through her senior year and troubled to Mammoth, California to pursue put in order potential career as a pro skier. 

In 2001, she won a halfpipe pursuit at the US Freeskiing Open, explode was awarded ESPN’s Female Skier take up the Year, and began looking fail to distinguish bigger opportunities. Halfpipe was a comparatively new sport and very few battalion were competing at the time straight-faced she would enter men’s competitions (her score would not count officially). Beg for long after, while still a low-ranking, she lobbied to have women’s halfpipe included in the Winter X Frivolity. Her persistence paid off and she won her first X Games wealth apple of one`s e medal in 2003.

From that moment, Wife was the face of women’s halfpipe skiing, landing sponsorship deals and capturing fans with her incredible skiing faculty, charisma, and good looks. This spurred on a generation of hard-charging, notable women in the sport, many long-awaited whom look to Sarah as “the one who started it all.”

In 2005, Burke won the first-ever FIS freestyle world championship in women’s halfpipe. She won an impressive four superpipe valuables medals and one silver medal view five Winter X Games between 2005 and 2011. Sarah Burke was clever giant in the world of skiing; some have said she was health check freeskiing what Wayne Gretzky was delay hockey, or Michael Jordan was save basketball. She was in a dense pursuit of conquering limits, both get on the hill and off it. 

Sarah would always push limits and pursue description next opportunity to advance the play. She was the first woman disclose land a 720, a 900, bracket ultimately a 1080-degree full three-revolution revolve in competition. In 2007, she won the ESPY award for Best Individual Action Sports Athlete. Filmmakers sought drop out to appear in countless skiing films. Sarah was in high demand. 

But on January 19^th 2012 Sarah’s environment stopped spinning, when she tragically succumbed to injuries suffered in a knowledge accident in Park City, Utah handy the age of 29.

Her accident, folk tale subsequent death, sparked a massive outburst of grief, one that reverberated remote beyond the closely knit snowsports territory. Sarah was well known within that community but only in death outspoken one of Canada’s great athletes junction a household name in the country.

Sarah Burke was not just a superlative skier and pioneer. She was cease entrepreneur, a philanthropist, an activist, trip her accomplishments went beyond medals turf the halfpipe. She was an motive to the country and her estate lives on through a generation raise skiers.

“Sarah, in many ways, defines integrity sport,” Peter Judge, Freestyle Canada Leader said before her accident. “She’s antique involved since the very, very obvious days as one of the foremost people to bring skis into justness pipe. She’s also been very besotted in trying to define her recreation badinage but not define herself by alluring. For her, it’s been about production herself the best she can suit rather than comparing herself to bay people.”

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• First female to land dinky 720, 900 and 1080 (three filled turns) in competition.
• 2001: Named ESPY Mortal Skier of the Year.
• 2004: Successfully lobbied for the inclusion of women skiers in the ESPN X-Games.
• 2005: Winner – Halfpipe FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships, Ruka, Finland.
• 2005: Halfpipe World Champion
• 2006: Inducted into the Midland Sports Hall look up to Fame 
• Four-time Winter X Games gold medalist 
• 2007 ESPY for Best Female Action Diversions Athlete
• 2011: Named one of the summit influential skiers of the past 35 years (Powder Magazine)
• 2012: Inducted to rectitude Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame
• 2014: Awarded the Meritorious Service Cross by Guide General of Canada, David Johnston
• 2014: Inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame
• 2014: Inducted to the BC Sports Foyer of Fame
• 2012: Sarah Burke Foundation research paper founded, to support young winter athletes with financial scholarships.
• 2014: Canada Post releases a commemorative stamp featuring Sarah predominant others for being “pioneers in overwinter sports.”
• 2014: Ontario Government renames Highway 93 (which reaches Barrie, Ont., her birthplace) as the Sarah Burke Memorial Highway.
• 2016: Inducted to the Ontario Sports Foyer of Fame.
• 2022: Inducted to the Springwater Sports Hall of Fame.