Frédérique Turgeon

Para alpine skier Frédérique Turgeon made her Paralympic Winter Games debut in 2018 and has developed into a medal threat for Canada ever since.

In 2022, Turgeon crashed in a downhill training run just a day before the Beijing Paralympics. She tore her quad muscle and missed the Games.

In February 2023, she put fear aside and won the gold medal in the women’s standing downhill at a World Cup in Saalbach, Austria. That victory came on what is considered one of the most dangerous hills on the circuit and has gobbled up more than its fair share of skiers. It was the one-legged skier’s first World Cup gold since 2019.

That victory highlighted a great comeback  2022-23 World Cup season. She was ranked second overall in the women's World Cup standing downhill and won four medals for the season.

Turgeon enjoyed her best season in 2018-19 with a triple medal performance at the world championships. She took silver in the slalom and bronze medals in the super-G and giant slalom after missing a month of training in early 2019 due to an aggravated ankle injury.

She dedicated the silver medal she won in the standing slalom at those worlds in Slovenia and Italy to her late father, who died less than two months before.

On the World Cup circuit that same season she collected two gold and four silver on her way to hoisting the Crystal Globe as the overall slalom points leader in the women's standing category. 

Turgeon wears a prothesis when she walks and initially competed in Para sports on both legs before a crash broke her leg in late 2013. She then adapted to skiing on one leg. She credits her desire to win and learn as well as the extra time in the gym as the main reasons for her improvement. In 2016, she made her World Cup debut in Austria.

Turgeon was born into a family of skiers. Both of her parents initiated her to the sport. She began skiing in 2002 at age three in Bromont, Que. Her first experience of skiing came at 10 months old, when her father strapped her to his back.