Marion Balsamo

Profile and significance

Marion Balsamo is an American freeski street and rail specialist whose name has become synonymous with the rise of women’s street-style skiing. Born in 2002 and raised near the small resort of Sipapu in northern New Mexico, she has carved out a niche as one of the strongest rail riders of her generation. Her résumé now includes podiums at major events like the Winter Dew Tour, USASA Nationals, APIK rail jams and, most significantly, an X Games Aspen bronze medal in Women’s Ski Street Style. At a time when rail-specific events are finally giving women equal space and prize money, Marion sits right in the middle of that progression.

What makes her especially notable is how she balances elite-level skiing with a demanding life away from the hill. After graduating from Colorado State University in 2024, she was accepted to medical school and works as a medical assistant while continuing to compete and film. That dual path—splitting time between hospitals, horses and handrails—gives her story a different texture than the classic full-time-ski-bum narrative. Supported by brands like Line Skis, she has become a visible role model for skiers who want to push the limits of street and park skiing without abandoning other ambitions.

Competitive arc and key venues

Balsamo’s contest story began far from the bright lights of Aspen or televised big air jumps. In 2019 she earned a breakout win at the USASA Nationals rail jam, taking the women’s title with a standout performance on a compact but technical setup. That result signalled that a skier from a small New Mexico hill could hang with the best young rail riders in the United States. Over the next few seasons she kept showing up at grassroots rail jams and regional events, sharpening her tricks on urban-style features and quietly building a reputation as a rider who thrives when the course is metal-heavy and high consequence.

Her first major international spotlight came through the Winter Dew Tour at Copper Mountain. In 2023 she finished second in Women’s Ski Streetstyle behind Lisa Zimmermann, and in 2024 she returned to the Dew Tour podium with another top-three finish in a deep field led by Eileen Gu. Those results set the stage for an even bigger leap: a strong run through the Street Style Pro qualifier series, including a third place in the Next X Women’s Ski Street Style event, which earned her a coveted X Games invite. At X Games Aspen 2025 she delivered under pressure, stacking clean, technical rail tricks to claim bronze in the inaugural Women’s Ski Street Style final. Along the way she added notable results like a win at a Level 1 Rail Jam Tour stop, second place at the high-profile APIK rail event in Mississauga and podium appearances at SnowFest-style contests, confirming that her Dew Tour and X Games medals were no fluke.

How they ski: what to watch for

Marion Balsamo’s skiing is built around rails in the purest sense. While many slopestyle riders split their time between jumps and jibs, she is part of a new wave of athletes whose primary arena is the rail setup itself—kink rails, close-outs, redirects and transfer gaps. Watching her in Dew Tour or X Games replays, the first thing that jumps out is how early she commits to a trick. She locks into front swaps, surface swaps and technical spin-on variations from the moment her skis touch the rail, with very little hesitation or course correction mid-feature.

Her style is often described as technical and smooth rather than wild or unpredictable. She favours long, fully controlled slides over the whole length of a rail, using swaps and tap features to keep the line interesting without losing balance. A hallmark move is the clean front 270 out of a down or double-kink rail, landed with hips stacked and shoulders quiet instead of thrown open. Speed management is another strength: she carries enough pace to clear gaps and pop onto high features, but rarely comes in so hot that she has to fight for the landing. For riders studying her runs, the lesson is clear—rail dominance starts with precision, edge control and commitment long before it becomes about the most exotic spin.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Balsamo’s influence stretches well beyond podium photos. She has become a recurring face in core ski media, popping up in Line Skis’ “Heavy Hitters” recaps, International Women’s Day features and video projects that highlight women pushing the sport. In 2023 she helped headline a stop of the Level 1 Rail Jam Tour, where she and fellow Line athletes walked away with the big checks in a high-energy night session. She has also been a key presence at the TBL Sessions at Brighton Resort, a women-focused park gathering where a private park is handed over to a hand-picked crew of riders to film, progress and vote on video awards instead of formal contest scores.

On the film side, Marion has moved increasingly into street and urban segments. She appears in community-driven projects like the FLINTA-focused “Bucket Clips” series and in full street films such as a segment in the Runge crew’s “Full Pull,” further cementing her reputation as a skier who can take contest-ready rail skills onto real-world handrails and concrete-to-snow landings. All of this has unfolded while she juggles academic work, medical assistant shifts and personal commitments like barrel racing horses and planning a wedding. That resilience—showing up to icy night sessions and big events while carrying a full life off the hill—resonates strongly with fans who also balance skiing with school or work.

Geography that built the toolkit

Geographically, Balsamo’s rise is rooted in an unconventional set of mountains. Growing up near Sipapu in New Mexico meant learning to ski on smaller hills with limited vertical and highly variable snow. Instead of endless powder laps or giant glacier parks, she cut her teeth on tow-ropes, home-built features and compact resort rail lines. That environment naturally nudges ambitious skiers toward rails and creative use of whatever features the hill can support, which in her case turned into a lifelong love of street and jib skiing.

Moving to Colorado for university opened up a new circle of training grounds. From Fort Collins she could strike out to the front-range and I-70 corridor parks, including Copper Mountain’s Dew Tour setups and the urban-adjacent rail options in and around Denver. Trips to Utah and the Wasatch brought Brighton’s rail-heavy parks into her orbit, while events like APIK Mississauga and SnowFest-style jams introduced her to Eastern Canada’s icy, high-energy contest scene. The common thread across these venues is an emphasis on handrails, scaffolding setups and night-time sessions under lights. That geography has produced a skier more comfortable on steel and concrete than on backcountry spines, perfectly tuned to the demands of modern street-style events.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Balsamo’s equipment choices are tightly aligned with her rail-first approach. As a team rider for Line Skis, she is frequently associated with the Honey Badger TBL, a park ski designed with Taylor Lundquist that emphasises low swing weight, pop and durability on metal. Watching her ride it in contests and street clips gives a real-world sense of what that kind of ski is built to do: stay lively enough for quick swaps and spins, yet strong enough to withstand repeated impacts on kinks and close-outs. For aspiring rail skiers, the message is less “buy this exact model” and more “look for a symmetrical, snappy ski with tough edges and a flex that you can bend without folding.”

On her feet, Balsamo often rides three-piece freestyle boots from brands like K2, giving her a mix of shock absorption and ankle freedom that suits presses and nose-butt style tricks. Protective gear—especially a helmet and back protector—is non-negotiable when you are landing on concrete runouts or metal stairs as often as she does. For skiers trying to follow her path, a practical takeaway is to treat your park and street setup as a system: skis, bindings, boots and protection all tuned to survive repeated impacts on rails rather than occasional powder days.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Marion Balsamo because she represents a clear, modern archetype: the dedicated rail skier who took a love for small-hill park laps and turned it into Dew Tour and X Games hardware without ever abandoning a life outside skiing. Her bronze in Women’s Ski Street Style at X Games Aspen 2025 is more than a single medal; it is a proof-of-concept that women’s rail skiing can stand on the biggest stage, with its own stars and storylines. When brands highlight “women pushing the sport,” her name now sits naturally alongside long-established icons, signalling that the next generation of street specialists has truly arrived.

For progressing skiers, particularly those who spend more time on rails than in big jump lines, her trajectory offers a powerful roadmap. Start with whatever hill or rope tow you have. Obsess over technique—clean swaps, solid lock-ins, controlled spins off features. Show up to local rail jams, then regional tours, then bigger events like Dew Tour or APIK when your trick bag is ready. Film with friends, submit to community projects, and support inclusive crews that open doors for more riders. Watching Marion Balsamo’s runs, SLVSH games and street segments through that lens turns her career into a step-by-step guide to building a future in street and rail skiing, grounded as much in consistency and creativity as in raw risk.