SKIERS from Canada

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Canadian Skiers of all time. This list of famous Canadian Skiers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Canadian Skiers.

1. Anne Heggtveit (b. 1939)

With an HPI of 54.23, Anne Heggtveit is the most famous Canadian Skier.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages on wikipedia.

Anne Heggtveit, (born January 11, 1939) is a former alpine ski racer from Canada. She was an Olympic gold medallist and double world champion in 1960.

2. Lucile Wheeler (b. 1935)

With an HPI of 53.76, Lucile Wheeler is the 2nd most famous Canadian Skier.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Lucile Wheeler (born January 14, 1935) is a former alpine ski racer from Canada. She was a double world champion in 1958, the first North American to win a world title in the downhill event.

3. Horst Bulau (b. 1962)

With an HPI of 49.05, Horst Bulau is the 3rd most famous Canadian Skier.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Horst Hardy Bulau (born 14 August 1962) is a Canadian former ski jumper who competed for the Canadian national team.

4. Kathy Kreiner (b. 1957)

With an HPI of 48.05, Kathy Kreiner is the 4th most famous Canadian Skier.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Katharine Kreiner-Phillips (born May 4, 1957) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Canada.

5. Kerrin Lee-Gartner (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 44.95, Kerrin Lee-Gartner is the 5th most famous Canadian Skier.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Kerrin Anne Lee-Gartner (born September 21, 1966) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medallist from Canada. Born in Trail, British Columbia, she grew up in Rossland and raced as a youngster at Red Mountain. Lee-Gartner started skiing for the Canadian Women's Ski Team in 1982, but suffered a number of knee operations over the years including two complete reconstructions. She attained her first World Cup podium early in December 1990, then had five more top-six finishes early in the 1992 season entering the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. On the Roc de Fer course at Méribel, Lee-Gartner won the gold medal in the Olympic downhill. Only 0.06 seconds behind was silver medallist Hilary Lindh of the U.S., for a North American 1–2 finish. Through 2018, it remains the only victory in an Olympic downhill by a Canadian. She finished sixth in the Olympic super-G and had two more podiums after the Olympics, both in North America, to finish up the 1992 season. Lee-Gartner's next season in 1993 was her best on the World Cup circuit, with two podiums and twelve top tens. She finished third in the downhill standings and ninth overall. At the World Championships in Japan, she was fourth in the super-G and ninth in the downhill. Leading up to the 1994 Winter Olympics, Lee-Gartner was admittedly affected by the death of her friend Ulrike Maier after a crash in a downhill race in late January. At the Olympics in Norway, she finished eighth in the super-G and 19th in the downhill, and retired from international competition a month later, at the end of the 1994 World Cup season. Lee-Gartner is currently a television broadcaster with CBC Sports in Canada. She also assisted the BBC with coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

6. Erik Guay (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 44.24, Erik Guay is the 6th most famous Canadian Skier.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Erik Guay () (born August 5, 1981) is a Canadian former World Cup alpine ski racer. Racing out of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Guay won the World Cup season title in super-G in 2010 and was the world champion in downhill in 2011, as well as in the super-G in 2017. With 25 World Cup podiums, he is the career leader for Canada.

7. Mikaël Kingsbury (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 41.87, Mikaël Kingsbury is the 7th most famous Canadian Skier.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Mikaël Kingsbury (born July 24, 1992) is a Canadian freestyle skier. He is the most accomplished moguls and freestyle skier of all time. He achieved eminence early in his career after earning the 2009–10 FIS World Cup Rookie of the Year award. He is a 13-time FIS Freestyle World Cup title-holder for overall moguls and nine-time title-holder for overall freestyle, owning the records for most men's Moguls World Cup titles and Overall Freestyle World Cup titles. He also owns the records for career World Cup moguls victories with 99, and consecutive Freestyle World Cup event wins with 13. He is the first man to have won both the moguls and dual moguls World Championship events (sweeping the two events three times), and has won the most medals at the Freestyle World Championships of any male competitor in history, having won a medal in 15 of the 16 events he has competed in. Kingsbury has also won the Olympic silver medal in 2014 and 2022, and the gold medal in men's moguls at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

8. John Kucera (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 41.31, John Kucera is the 8th most famous Canadian Skier.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

John Kucera (born September 17, 1984) is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from Canada. Born in Calgary, Alberta, he raced in all five alpine disciplines, focusing on the speed events of downhill and super-G. Kucera is a former world champion in the downhill. His parents immigrated to Canada from Czechoslovakia in 1980. Kucera made his World Cup debut at age 20 in November 2004, on home snow in Lake Louise, Alberta. Two years later, Lake Louise was the site of his first World Cup victory, a super-G race in November 2006. Three weeks later he made another World Cup podium with a third-place finish in the super-G at Val Gardena, Italy. His next podium came two years later, a second place in the super-G at Lake Louise. He won the gold medal in the downhill at the 2009 World Championships at Val-d'Isère, France, to become the first Canadian man to win the event at the World Championships. On November 28, 2009, Kucera finished sixth in the first downhill of the 2010 season at Lake Louise, but fractured his left leg in the super-G the following day. A compound fracture through his left calf, causing him to miss the rest of the 2010 World Cup season and the 2010 Winter Olympics at Whistler. Kucera returned to the snow a year later in late 2010. As part of his recovery, he was a forerunner for a number of races in North America and Europe. He retired from competition at the end of the 2013-14 World Cup season. As the son of Czech immigrants, Kucera is fluent in Czech. His surname is pronounced kuw-cze-rah.

9. Beckie Scott (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 40.24, Beckie Scott is the 9th most famous Canadian Skier.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Rebecca Scott (born August 1, 1974) is a Canadian retired cross-country skier. She is an Olympic gold and silver medallist, and the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing. She is the founder of a national organization dedicated to improving health, wellness and education outcomes for Indigenous youth through sport and play. Scott was Chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athlete Committee, and gained notoriety for her position during the Russian (2014–2019) doping scandal. She served as an International Olympic Committee member by virtue of being elected to the IOC Athlete's Commission along with Saku Koivu between 2006 and 2014. She is married to the American former cross-country skier Justin Wadsworth. They have two children.

10. Alex Harvey (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 40.20, Alex Harvey is the 10th most famous Canadian Skier.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Alex Harvey (French pronunciation: [alɛks aʁˈve]; born 7 September 1988) is a retired Canadian cross-country skier who competed between 2005 and 2019. Harvey is also a member of the Quebec Provincial Cycling Team.