Kelsey Serwa, 22, brought unprecedented excitement to Winter X 2011 when she wen head-to-head with four-time defending Skier X champ Ophelie David, 35 in the Women's Skier X final. Both women carried so much speed off the last kicker that they crashed through the finish line -- Serwa thwarted David's five-peat by a nose.
"I knew it was going to be a long flight, and there was just this point in the air where I accepted what was going to happen," Serwa says. "I also remember thinking, 'Oh my god, I am going to win the X Games.'"
For Serwa, who sprained her entire thoracic spine and banged up her nose, it was a painful punctuation to her first Winter X gold. "My back still bothers me [10 months later], and I feel like I aged 30 years," she says. "But it was so worth it."
The ramifications of her Winter X crash lasted all season, but did that slow down the hard-charging Canuck? Only off the hill.
The new defending Skier X champ says she was so sore when she arrived at the World Championships in Deer Valley, Utah, a week after Winter X that, "I could not get out of bed." While her teammates made training run after training run, Serwa stayed back at the hotel working with a physio and watching video of the course at night. She finally took two training runs before the qualification. No matter, she went on to win her first World Championship title the next day. By season's end, her 'need for speed' earned her five World Cup podiums and third overall in the World rankings.
Does life change much once you become a Winter X gold medalist and World Champion? Yes and no.
"People don't recognize me," says Serwa, "but when I tell them I do the X Games, they ask, 'Did you see that girl who crashed?' and I'm like, 'Yeah, that was me.'"
Serwa, who spends her summers in Whistler, laid low and recouped from her injuries. She and boyfriend Stan Rey, a fellow Winter X competitor, took several trips to Cannon Beach, Ore., where she says she spent much time learning how to surf. For the first time, Serwa -- who earned good prize money at Winter X and the World Championships -- didn't have to spend the summer toiling as a busser in a restaurant and working for a bungee jumping company.
Instead, she concentrated solely on training. And decompressing.
Even with her new contest-result accolades, Serwa says,"There has been so much focus on the summer Olympics that I haven't been able to find any sponsors for the upcoming season." As of December 2011, she only boasts one: Big White Ski Resort. "That's not why any of us do it, though. We race because we love it, not because of the money."
With or without sponsors, Serwa is in a new position heading into the 2011/2012 season. She's no longer the underdog up-and-comer, but the favorite to win.
As of late December she is also, surprisingly, the lone Canadian woman on the Skier X roster. For the past several years, both the men's and women's Canadian teams have dominated the field. Two of Serwa's biggest competitors, Ashleigh McIvor (Olympic gold 2010) and Julia Murray, are recovering from injuries, while Winter X vets Aleisha Cline (gold 1999, 2001-2004) and Anik Demers (gold 2000) retired after the 2010 Olympics.
"There are some good girls coming up though," Serwa says.
For now, though, flying solo seems to suite Serwa just fine. It's just a lot less painful when she stays on her feet.
