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OWCA
Meet our 2022 Winter Olympians
Gabi Ash (OW2016) - Freestyle Skiing
Like many top-line aerial skiers, Gabi Ash’s background in diving and gymnastics has laid a solid foundation for her new sport. She moved into the Victorian Institute of Sport’s aerial skiing program barely five years ago, making an impressive 15th placing in her international competition debut at the 2017 Europa Cup in Finland.
Gabi now has 10 World Cup starts to her name, with some of her best results coming over the past 12 months: 6th at Ruka, Finland in December 2021, 7th at Deer Valley, USA in February 2021 and 9th in Almaty, Kazakhstan in March 2021. She enjoyed two top-10 placings in the 2017-18 season, 4th and 6th in Nor-Am Cup competitions in Canada and the USA.
The 2019-20 season was one to remember as she recorded her first podium finishes; bronze medals at both the Lake Placid (USA) and Le Relais (Canada) Nor-Am Cup events. In 2020-21, Gabi recorded her World Championship debut in Almaty, Kazakhstan placing 15th.
Gabi has the added incentive of working alongside Australian, and now Beijing, Olympic teammates Laura Peel and Danielle Scott. At the end of the 2021 season, all three women were ranked in the world’s top-30 (Laura 1st, Dani 14th and Gabi 26th).
Her older sister Sophie also made her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022 in moguls.
She is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts at Monash University. ‘I stopped diving at the beginning of 2016 and was eager to start skiing again,' she says. 'When I found out about the aerials program, it seemed like the perfect match!’
Katie Parker (OW2016) – Alpine Skiing
Katie took up skiing at age four and became an Australian national champion in moguls and several alpine disciplines at just 10 years old. Her mother Jenny drove Katie to competitions and training camps at Mount Buller in winter, and in the summer, the family would head to the United States to ski on the northern winter slopes. It’s little wonder Katie’s career has continued to dovetail between the two countries.
Katie has enjoyed two years on Snow Australia’s ski team, alongside three years with the University of Utah’s alpine team ‘The Utes’. She has a strong record in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, which has been a leader in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) skiing world in the US since 1950.
She earned All-America honours in the giant slalom at the 2020 NCAA Championships and has recorded two podium finishes, four top-five finishes and 12 career, top-10 finishes in her three seasons with The Utes. Prior to joining The Utes in 2019, Katie was a Sugar Bowl Academy graduate in California with her fellow Beijing 2022 alpine skiing Olympic debutant, Louis Muhlen-Schulte.
Katie competed at both the 2018 US National Junior (6th super-G) and US National Open Championships (7th super-G, 13th slalom, 13th giant slalom).
She had a strong ending to 2021 despite all the pandemic disruptions, with two top-10 finishes (5th giant slalom and 9th slalom) in the Nor-Am Cup leg at Panorama, Canada, in December.