Naomi Urness
Profile and significance
Naomi Urness is a Canadian freeski slopestyle and big air athlete from Mont-Tremblant, Québec, quietly becoming one of the most consistent young park skiers on the NorAm circuit. Born in 2004 and raised in a family deeply involved in freestyle, she started skiing at age three, joined the Mont-Tremblant Freestyle Club at eleven, and moved steadily through provincial, national and international ranks. She now rides for Freestyle Canada’s NextGen slopestyle/big air program, a stepping stone toward full World Cup status, and represents both her home resort and local shop partners in competition.
Urness’ résumé already includes a fourth place in big air and sixth in slopestyle at the 2022 FIS Junior World Championships in Leysin, Switzerland, along with a growing collection of NorAm podiums. In the 2024–25 season she stacked top-three finishes across North America, including wins and podiums at Mammoth Mountain, Copper Mountain, Aspen and Stoneham. Those results, paired with her selection as the 2019 recipient of Momentum Ski Camps’ Spirit of Sarah scholarship, mark her out as more than just another strong junior. For Canadian freeski fans, she is one of the clearest emerging names in women’s park skiing, with realistic ambitions of moving onto the World Cup circuit and eventually the Olympic stage.
Competitive arc and key venues
Urness’ competitive arc is a classic modern Canadian freeski pathway, compressed into a few intense years. After early seasons in the Québec freestyle system and regional events at her home hill of Mont-Tremblant, she began appearing in national-level start lists and earned selection for the Canada Winter Games representing Québec. That experience of multi-sport games pressure, complete with provincial colours and live scoring, set the tone for the next step of her career.
The real breakthrough came in 2021–22 when she travelled to Leysin for the FIS Junior World Championships. Against a strong international field, she finished fourth in women’s big air and sixth in slopestyle, a result that instantly validated her potential on the global stage. Those performances fed directly into Freestyle Canada naming her to the NextGen slopestyle/big air team in 2023, giving her structured support, coaching and a clear runway toward World Cup qualification.
Since then, the NorAm circuit has been her primary proving ground. Across the 2023 and 2024–25 seasons she has become a regular on the podium: multiple second places in slopestyle and big air at Stoneham and Calgary, back-to-back slopestyle podiums at Copper Mountain and Aspen, and a particularly dominant stretch at Mammoth Mountain where she won slopestyle and added a second place in big air. By the end of the 2024–25 season she had secured second overall in the NorAm big air standings, confirming that her junior world results were not a one-off but part of a sustained rise.
How they ski: what to watch for
Urness’ skiing is the product of hours in structured programs, airbag sessions and park laps at Mont-Tremblant. Her runs blend the composure of a race-trained skier with the freedom of modern freeski style. On jumps, she favours clean, controlled spins where the grab is held long enough to shape the trick rather than just touch for points; you often see her use switch takeoffs and solid grab variations to add difficulty without sacrificing consistency. Her fourth place in big air at Junior Worlds and repeated NorAm big air podiums underline how comfortable she is when the focus is a single, high-pressure hit.
In slopestyle, Urness builds her runs logically. She tends to open with a rail section that is technical but not chaotic, using solid lock-ins, changes of direction and tidy spin-offs to establish a strong base score before stepping into the jumps. Judges and fans notice how rarely she looks rushed; speed is managed carefully into each feature, and landings are usually driven out rather than fought. Her style is more about polish than wild improvisation, which matches the demands of high-level FIS slopestyle and big air where repeatability and control matter as much as creativity.
While her focus is primarily on park courses rather than full urban or street skiing setups, the way she skis rails shows the influence of that culture. Lines are compact, purposeful and built to link one feature smoothly into the next. For progressing riders, her runs are a strong study in how to use fundamentals—good stance, clean edging, committed grabs—to keep climbing the competitive ladder without rushing into tricks that are not ready.
Resilience, filming, and influence
Behind those results sits a story of resilience that local media in Mont-Tremblant have already highlighted. As a teenager, Urness broke her humerus in a training crash, an injury that required months away from snow and a careful return to impact. In interviews she has described the mix of fear and excitement that comes with trying something new, and how “good fear” becomes part of the process for any big air or slopestyle skier. Coming back from that break to compete at Junior Worlds and then to push for NorAm overall titles shows both physical and mental toughness.
Her 2019 Spirit of Sarah scholarship from Momentum Ski Camps is another window into her character. The award is given in memory of Sarah Burke to a young female skier who shows not only potential on snow but also qualities like kindness, determination and a positive approach to life. Receiving it as a 14-year-old from Mont-Tremblant placed Urness in a small, respected group of riders across Canada, and helped fund training time on the glaciers and park lines that have become central to her progression. Today, as a NextGen team member, she represents exactly the kind of athlete that scholarship aims to support.
Influence at this stage of her career is less about starring in feature-length movies and more about visibility and example. Through Freestyle Canada profiles, regional news stories and her own clips from NorAm stops, she shows young skiers from Québec—and especially girls—that it is possible to grow from a local club to international championships while staying grounded in school and community. As she climbs the ranks, that quiet influence is likely to grow, whether or not she chooses to step more fully into filming projects later on.
Geography that built the toolkit
Geography is central to understanding Urness’ skiing. She was born and raised in Mont-Tremblant, with Station Mont-Tremblant as her home hill and a family fully invested in freestyle. Her stepbrothers and sisters all went through the same freestyle club, turning the resort into a daily training ground and playground. The terrain there—mid-sized jumps, dense rail lines, cold Québec winters and busy holiday crowds—teaches riders to be efficient and adaptable from a young age.
As her career expanded, the map of her skiing spread across North America and into Europe. NorAm events brought her to eastern parks like Stoneham, with its icy, wind-affected snow, and western venues such as Copper Mountain, Aspen and Mammoth, where larger jumps, higher altitude and rapidly changing conditions are normal. The Junior Worlds in Leysin added a Swiss Alpine dimension, with bigger mountains, different light and new snow textures. Moving through these environments season after season has built a toolkit that travels well: she is comfortable in everything from hardpack early-season laps to spring slush, on both compact NorAm courses and longer, more open World Championship-style layouts.
Equipment and partners: practical takeaways
Urness’ official profile lists support from the Québec freeski shop D-Structure and her home resort Station Mont-Tremblant. Rather than being defined by a single ski model, her setup reflects the realities of a NorAm slopestyle and big air schedule. She rides park-oriented twin tips with enough stiffness to stay stable on NorAm-sized jumps but still forgiving enough for long rail sections and repeated training impacts. For aspiring riders watching her, the key lesson is not to chase a signature pro ski, but to choose a symmetrical or nearly symmetrical park ski that feels predictable both forward and switch in the kind of parks you actually ride.
Her partnership with D-Structure and close ties to Mont-Tremblant also highlight the importance of community-based backing. Access to coaches, tuned equipment, airbags, trampolines and safe jump progression lines can matter more than logo counts on a jacket. On the protective side, slopestyle and big air at her level make a modern helmet, back protection and well-fitted boots non-negotiable. The consistency she shows in NorAm finals is built on the confidence that her gear will behave the same way run after run, whether she is dropping into a big air in Mammoth or a slopestyle line back home in Québec.
Why fans and progressing skiers care
Fans and progressing skiers care about Naomi Urness because she represents a realistic, exciting version of the freeski pathway. She is not yet a household name on World Cup podiums, but she has already proved herself against strong international fields at Junior Worlds and NorAm events, all while staying rooted in the culture of her local club. Her story shows that you can grow up at a resort like Mont-Tremblant, work through club programs, earn support like the Spirit of Sarah scholarship and NextGen selection, and end up battling for NorAm overall titles in slopestyle and big air.
For young riders, especially girls coming up through Canadian clubs, her trajectory offers a clear template. Spend time in structured training, build strong basics on rails and jumps, use local parks and airbags to progress safely, and then test yourself step by step: provincial events, national championships, NorAm starts and eventually international championships. Watching how Urness skis—how she manages speed, chooses tricks she can land cleanly and handles big days on the NorAm circuit—turns her career into a practical guide for anyone who wants to move from local park laps toward the level where World Cups and Olympic dreams start to feel genuinely within reach.
