Kim Lamarre

Profile and significance

Kim Lamarre is a Canadian freeski pioneer who helped define women’s slopestyle on the world stage. Born in 1988 in Québec City and raised in Lac-Beauport, she became the bronze medalist in the inaugural Olympic women’s slopestyle at Sochi 2014, sharing the podium with teammate Dara Howell. That medal—earned after years of setbacks—cemented her as one of the touchstones of the sport. Her résumé also includes bronze at Winter X Games Europe Tignes 2011 and bronze at Winter X Games Aspen 2014, plus a fourth place at the 2011 FIS World Championships. In 2018 she returned to the Olympic stage at PyeongChang, closing a chapter that began on rope tows and small Quebec parks and grew into prime-time runs at the biggest venues in freeski. Off snow, she has been a coach and French-language analyst for Canadian broadcasts, bringing a rider’s eye to viewers who want to understand why a great slopestyle run “reads” so clearly at full speed.

Lamarre’s career is also a study in perseverance. Multiple ACL tears cost her significant time and even a national team slot, so she self-funded parts of the 2013 season, rebuilt the trick list, and then rattled off results: second at the Dew Tour in Breckenridge that December, X Games Aspen bronze in January, and the historic Olympic bronze in February. In the language of freeski, that arc speaks louder than any tagline.

Competitive arc and key venues

Before the Olympic breakthrough, Lamarre established bona fides where slopestyle’s credibility was forged: X Games and World Championships. A comeback from injury culminated in bronze at Winter X Games Europe in Tignes in 2011, alongside a fourth at the FIS Worlds that same winter. After another injury cycle, she rebuilt momentum with a podium at the Dew Tour stop in Colorado, then added X Games Aspen bronze in January 2014—the last major tune-up before Sochi. One month later at Rosa Khutor’s slopestyle course, she qualified strongly and then delivered an 85.00 in the final to secure Olympic bronze in the event’s debut. Four years later she competed again at PyeongChang 2018, proof of staying power in a demanding discipline.

These results came on some of the sport’s most scrutinized stages. Aspen’s purpose-built slopestyle venue at Buttermilk rewards broadcast composure and immaculate takeoffs. Tignes’ X Games setup distilled European jump and rail design into a tight, technical flow. The Sochi course at Rosa Khutor—where slopestyle entered the Olympic canon—required calm approaches and precise speed control under global pressure. Closer to home, Lamarre’s foundations trace to the Québec City corridor, particularly Le Relais in her hometown of Lac-Beauport and Stoneham just up the road, where firm nights and dense park laps teach edge honesty and fast decision-making.

How they ski: what to watch for

Lamarre’s skiing is built on readable difficulty. She squares the approach early, lets the skis run straight into takeoff, and uses the grab as a control input rather than decoration—tail, safety, or mute chosen for what the axis needs. That timing quiets rotation and allows landings to finish over the feet, so the outrun breathes and the next feature arrives on time. On rails, she prefers decisive lock-ins with fully resolved surface swaps; presses carry visible shape instead of wobble. Directional variety—forward and switch, left and right—appears because it serves the line, not to tick boxes.

If you’re evaluating one of her classic Aspen or Sochi clips, track two cues. First, spacing: the run leaves room between moves, turning a sequence of tricks into a sentence that the camera can follow at normal speed. Second, the length of the grab: hands find the ski early and stay long enough to influence rotation and pitch, which is why even heavier spins look unhurried. Those details made judges and viewers align on the same impression—clean, composed, and complete.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Few slopestyle careers have been so publicly shaped by injury and return. Lamarre absorbed multiple ACL tears, missed seasons, and the uncertainty of rebuilding in her mid-20s, then re-emerged with the most important results of her life clustered inside three months. That story matters as much as the medal count because it codified habits that younger athletes copy: treat the grab as steering, finish the move early, protect momentum, and trust that clean inputs age well on camera and with judges. Her Olympic bronze came with the added weight of history—first women’s slopestyle at the Games—which made it an instant reference point for Canadian freeski.

Her influence extends beyond bibs. As a mentor and on-air analyst, Lamarre translates trick math into understandable language: why a switch takeoff changes line planning, how a long grab stabilizes a 720 off a medium booter, why a tidy rail exit preserves speed for the next setup. That clarity helps park skiers progress and helps general audiences appreciate why some runs “feel” right even before the score appears.

Geography that built the toolkit

Place explains the feel of Lamarre’s skiing. The nightly laps and compact in-runs at Le Relais in Lac-Beauport and the longer lines at nearby Stoneham provided high-frequency repetition on firm snow—perfect for learning precise speed management and centered landings. Travel added complementary classrooms: Colorado’s Breckenridge for Dew Tour-caliber lines, Aspen’s Buttermilk for camera-ready takeoffs and outruns, and the Olympic build at Sochi for the pressure test that only the Games can deliver. Stitch those environments together and you get a toolkit that works anywhere: calm inputs, full-length grabs, and exits that preserve momentum.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Lamarre’s hardware story mirrors her phases. Early-career years included time with athlete-driven Armada Skis, a brand embedded in park culture; later she signed with LINE Skis, aligning with a team known for creative, rider-led design. The common thread is predictability—swing weight you can trust for early-grab spins and edges that hold on steel without turning brittle in a week. For skiers applying the lessons, think category fit over model names. Choose a symmetrical or near-symmetrical park platform, mount so butters and presses feel natural without compromising takeoff stability, keep bases fast so cadence isn’t weather-dependent, and detune contact points just enough to avoid surprise bites on swaps while keeping real edge where you need bite.

On the soft-goods and support side, national-team infrastructure carried her through the biggest stages, but the practical takeaway for everyday riders is simpler: tune, wax, and speed control matter more than wattage. Lamarre’s best runs are masterclasses in how a well-prepared, predictable setup lets technique show through.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Kim Lamarre matters because she turned the hardest part of slopestyle—making difficulty look easy—into a blueprint at the precise moment the world first tuned in. An Olympic bronze in the discipline’s debut, two X Games bronzes on different continents, and a decade of presence in the scene prove the ceiling; the way she skis explains the appeal. For fans, her runs are endlessly rewatchable because the decisions are clear and the execution is calm. For developing skiers, the checklist is actionable on the next lap: square the approach, lock the grab early to steer the axis, finish the move with time to spare, and leave every feature with speed for what comes next. That is why her name endures—from night laps in Lac-Beauport to Buttermilk broadcasts and the history books of Sochi 2014.