Mike Riddle

A crucial second run in the final helped ski halfpipe veteran Mike Riddle win a silver medal in Sochi 2014, the year the discipline made its Olympic debut. Riddle was there when halfpipe competitions were added to the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships in 2005. He participated in the 2005–2006 halfpipe World Cup season as one of the participants. Since there was no halfpipe national team at the time, the competitors’ parents had Canadian team hoodies screen-printed for them to wear. In January 2006, Riddle took home silver in his very first World Cup competition.

Riddle won his first world championship in 2011 and was awarded the top FIS prize. In 2012–13, he had one of his best overall seasons, winning the Crystal Globe as the ski halfpipe World Cup winner overall. In three of his four World Cup starts, he finished on the podium, including two triumphs and a third-place showing at the test race in Sochi in 2014. Additionally, he placed fourth in the FIS World Championships and the Winter X Games Europe, two significant competitions. In March 2015, Riddle won his fourth World Cup.

While preparing for the Winter X Games in Oslo, Riddle suffered a pubic symphysis fracture and a torn left hip adductor in late February 2016. For a period of six months, he couldn’t ski. He broke his scapula in the first week of January in his return season in 2016–17, and then he broke it again at the PyeongChang 2018 test event, where he finished sixth. He finished the season with a silver medal at the FIS World Championships despite being less than 100 percent healthy. He had finished first in the qualification round. In PyeongChang 2018, Riddle came in sixth place.